High Court serves notice to Danam and Speaker on disqualification petition

The Telangana High Court issued notices on a petition challenging the Speaker’s refusal to disqualify Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender under the anti-defection law. The case has been posted for further hearing on April 16

By Legal Correspondent

Hyderabad: Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin of the Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices in a writ petition challenging the order of the Speaker refusing to disqualify Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender under the anti-defection law. The writ petition has been filed by BJP Legislature Party floor leader A Maheshwar Reddy, seeking to quash the order dated March 11, 2026, passed by the Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly in Disqualification Petition No. 4 of 2024.

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The petitioner has sought a writ of certiorari to set aside the Speaker’s order and to declare that Danam Nagender stands disqualified under Paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution. It is the case of the petitioner that Danam Nagender, who was elected in the 2023 Assembly elections on a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) ticket, subsequently contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Secunderabad as a Congress candidate by obtaining a B-Form from the Congress party.

This, according to the petitioner, constitutes defection attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law. The petitioner has further sought a declaration that the disqualification should take effect from April 23, 2024, being the date of filing of the nomination affidavit for the Lok Sabha elections, along with all consequential effects, including loss of membership and return of benefits received as an MLA.

The Speaker, in his order dated March 11, 2026, had dismissed the disqualification petitions filed against Danam Nagender and another MLA, Kadiyam Srihari, holding that the petitioners had failed to establish, with sufficient evidence, that the MLAs had voluntarily given up membership of their original political party. The Speaker had observed that in the absence of cogent material demonstrating defection, the provisions of the Tenth Schedule could not be invoked.

Challenging this finding, the petitioner has approached the High Court, contending that contesting an election on the ticket of another political party itself amounts to voluntarily giving up membership of the original party, thereby attracting disqualification.

The Court, after hearing the counsel for the petitioner, issued notice to the Speaker and permitted the petitioner to serve personal notice on Danam Nagender, and posted the matter for further hearing on April 16.