In a big setback to senior Congress leader and former Union minister Porika Balram Naik, the Election Commission of India on Wednesday barred him from contesting elections to any legislative body for a period of three years.
A notification to this effect was issued by Telangana state chief electoral officer Shashank Goel, as per the directions of the Election Commission.
The reason for the action against Naik is that he did not submit the election expenditure details pertaining to his contest in 2019 parliament elections to the election commission within the stipulated time.
After giving him sufficient notice, the EC took the decision to bar him from contesting the elections for three years.
Born to a poor family in Mulugu mandal of Warangal district, Naik began his career as a police constable in his native district.
After serving the force for a few years, he joined the Telecom Department where he worked for a brief period only to quit and launch his own real estate business.
Going on to build a real estate empire, Naik joined Congress on the eve of 2009 general elections and was elected to Lok Sabha from Mahbubabad (ST) constituency by defeating retired IPS officer D T Naik of erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party.
Naik was inducted into the Manmohan Singh cabinet in 2012 as a Union minister of state.
He was the only minister from Telangana, who did not resign from his post when all the other Union ministers from the region were forced to resign demanding separate Telangana state.
Naik claims to be a social worker and was a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour. He is also the all-India president of BanjaraSevak Samaj.
In 2014 and 2019, Naik lost the Lok Sabha elections. Naik also contested for Mahabubabad Assembly seat in December 2018 and lost to TRS candidate B Shankar Naik.
Though there was a stiff opposition from the local Congress leaders in giving him ticket in 2019, he managed to get the ticket.