Telangana HC sets aside Speaker's orders, declares MLA disqualified for contesting Lok Sabha polls on another party's ticket
The question: Was the Speaker's decision vitiated on the grounds of judicial review laid down in Kihoto Hollohan?
The Telangana High Court has set aside the Speaker's decisions in two disqualification petitions and declared that Danam Nagender stands disqualified as a Member of the Telangana Legislative Assembly from 23 April 2024, the date he filed his nomination as the candidate set up by the Indian National Congress (INC) for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Secunderabad, despite having been elected on a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) ticket. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin, by a common order in Writ Petition Nos. 8409 and 8647 of 2026, held that the Speaker's contrary findings breached the constitutional mandate and were perverse. The Court declared the seat vacant. Mr. Nagender was elected from the 60-Khairatabad constituency in December 2023. On 23 April 2024 he filed his nomination for the Lok Sabha as an INC candidate, campaigned against the BRS candidate and lost. Disqualification Petition No. 1 of 2024 (Padi Kaushik Reddy) was filed on 18 March 2024, and Disqualification Petition No. 4 of 2024 (Alleti Maheshwar Reddy, a BJP member) on 1 July 2024, both seeking a declaration of disqualification under the Tenth Schedule. On 31 July 2025 the Supreme Court directed the Speaker to decide within three months. The Speaker, sitting as a Tribunal, dismissed both petitions on 11 March 2026, and the petitioners came to the High Court.