Aaya Ram, gaya Ram, phir aaya Ram: SC dismisses Danam Nagender's plea, sets stage for high-octane assembly by-election

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Telangana high court’s order disqualifying Danam Nagender as the Khairatabad MLA, setting the stage for a high-octane assembly by-election in Telangana.Dismissing Nagender’s special leave petition, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana noted that the high court had rightly interpreted the law on defections and that there was no ground to interfere in the order.“Your case is ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram, phir Aaya Ram’,” Justice Bagchi remarked, adding, “You had a fixed deposit as MLA. You tried for the share market as an MP, and now you lost the fixed deposit.”Nagender had won the Khairatabad assembly seat on a BRS ticket in Dec 2023 and later contested and lost the Secunderabad Lok Sabha election on a Congress ticket in March 2024. The high court had on Sept 18 disqualified him as a member of the Telangana assembly under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.The high court, while disposing of petitions filed by BJP floor leader in the assembly Alleti Maheshwar Reddy and BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy, had also set aside the assembly speaker’s decision dismissing disqualification petitions against Nagender. With this, Nagender stood disqualified as an MLA from April 23, 2024 — the day on which he filed nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections.Nagender’s SLP had been mentioned before the CJI bench on Sept 21. Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi, while appearing for Nagender, had sought an urgent hearing contending that any delay could result in the Election Commission issuing a by-poll notification for the Khairatabad assembly constituency. Moreover, the MLA being disqualified, the public would suffer and welfare programmes would also be affected.On Thursday, Rohatgi submitted that there was a provision in the Tenth Schedule to condone the act of a member giving up party membership. “Ghar Wapasi?” Justice Bagchi asked.However, BRS insisted that they had not taken Nagender back into its fold. The counsel for Kaushik Reddy said that the party had not condoned Nagender’s acts, and underscored that it was the BRS member who filed the disqualification petition before the assembly speaker.Taking note of the submissions, the bench dismissed the Nagender’s plea.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Hyderabad | Silver Rate in Hyderabad | Bank Holidays in Hyderabad | Public Holidays in Hyderabad | Hyderabad AQI | Weather in Hyderabad | Petrol Price in Hyderabad | Diesel Price in Hyderabad | CNG Price in Hyderabad | LPG Price in HyderabadStay updated with the latest Hyderabad news. Download the TOI App.