As Telangana is all set to go for assembly elections in another four months, the Telangana high court on Tuesday set aside the election of Vanama Venkateshwar Rao, sitting MLA from Kothagudem in Bhadradri Kothagudem district.
A high court bench headed by Justice Radha Rani delivered the judgement on the ground that Vanama had filed a wrong affidavit before the Election Commission of India on the assets and other property details.
The judge declared that Vanama would cease to be an MLA with effect from December 12, 2018. In his place, the court declared his nearest rival Jalagam Venkat Rao as the Kothagudem MLA with effect from the same date.
Interestingly, Vanama contested the 2018 assembly election from Kothagudem constituency on the Congress ticket over Venkat Rao, a contestant from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which was then Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), with a margin of just 4,139 votes.
Vanama got 81,118 votes, whereas Venkat Rao secured 76,979 votes. However, soon after the election, Vanama joined the TRS (now BRS), whereas Venkat Rao still continues in the BRS but has been sulking for being ignored in the party.
So, it doesn’t make much difference for the BRS as such, as its tally in the assembly will remain the same. Instead of Vanama, the BRS will have representation from Kothagudem in Jalagam Venkat Rao.
In his election petition filed in the high court on January 2019, Venkat Rao alleged that Vanama had not given complete property details of himself and his wife in the Form 26 to the election commission.
After hearing the arguments that went on for more than four years, the court gave the judgement in favour of Venkat Rao. It also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Venkateshwar Rao.