If the Congress sources are to be believed, there are likely to be by-elections to only Station Ghanpur and Khairatabad assembly seats in Telangana, as the assembly speaker G Prasad Kumar may be forced to disqualify sitting MLAs Kadiyam Srihari and Danam Nagender respectively from these constituencies.
Following severe reprimand from the Supreme Court which ordered issuance of contempt of court notices, the speaker released a fresh schedule for hearing the disqualification petitions against the Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLAs who defected to the Congress.
Till now, only eight defected MLAs gave their version, stating that they had not joined the Congress party and met chief minister A Revanth Reddy only for the sake of development of their assembly constituencies.
However, only Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari did not respond to the notices. Both reportedly face strong, irrefutable evidence of defection, making disqualification likely.
While Nagender contested the Lok Sabha elections on Congress ticket from Secunderabad in May 2024, Kadiyam campaigned for his daughter Kavya, who won the Warangal Lok Sabha seat from the Congress.
“Since it is pretty evident that they went against the BRS, they will have to face the disqualification. However, the Congress might ask them to resign ahead of the Speaker’s final order,” sources said.
The BRS filed a complaint under the anti-defection law, first approaching the Speaker, then escalating the matter to the High Court and Supreme Court after no action was taken.
In July 2024, the Supreme Court ordered that a decision be made within three months, i.e., by October 31. Following these directions, the Speaker issued notices to all 10 MLAs.
The Supreme Court suggested day-to-day proceedings to resolve the matter swiftly. Assembly counsel assured the court that the inquiry would be completed within four weeks.
If Nagender and Srihari resign—or are disqualified—Telangana will head for two more bypolls. The ruling Congress is reportedly discussing political timing and strategy for these potential elections.