High Court Rejects Bhupathi Reddy's Petition

The Telangana High Court today rejected the petition of Congress leader Bhupathi Reddy to stay the disqualification order issued to him by the Telangana Legislative Council.

The petitioner challenged the order of the Council Chairman under schedule 10 and para 8, and appealed to the court to stay it. The Court however rejected the petition and upheld the disqualification saying it was correct as per Constitutional procedures.

The Court also observed that the Council Chairman and Assembly Speaker had rights to disqualify members as per the Constitution.

Reddy, who was elected as an MLC as a TRS nominee (though that is not official, since he was not elected on the party symbol) under the local bodies quota from the Nizamabad segment, had defected to the Congress in February.

Earlier, two other MLCs Yadava Reddy and Ramulu Naik had also faced similar situations in the Court. The Legislative Council Chairman, upon an appeal by the TRS leadership, had disqualified all the three MLCs for defecting to the Congress from the TRS.