Supreme Court Issues Key Orders in BRS MLAs' Defection Case
The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued significant orders in the case concerning the defection of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs. The party had approached the Supreme Court seeking the disqualification of its MLAs who were elected on the BRS symbol but later joined the Congress. BRS moved the court after the Telangana Assembly Speaker did not take action against the defecting legislators.
A bench comprising Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Vinod Chandran heard the petition and issued notices to the respondents, including the Telangana Assembly Secretary, Speaker Gaddam Prasad, the central and state Election Commissions, and the ten defected MLAs. The court directed all parties to submit their counter-affidavits by March 25.
BRS had initially approached the Supreme Court on January 15, demanding the disqualification of its MLAs who had joined Congress. The Special Leave Petition (SLP) was filed by BRS MLAs Padi Kaushik Reddy and K.P. Vivekanand against MLAs Kadiyam Srihari, Tellam Venkata Rao, and Danam Nagender. Additionally, BRS leader K.T. Rama Rao filed a writ petition against seven more defected MLAs—Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, M. Sanjay Kumar, Kale Yadayya, Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, Prakash Goud, Gudem Mahipal Reddy, and Arikapudi Gandhi.
The Supreme Court has clubbed all these petitions for a consolidated hearing.