Anurag Kumar
Wednesday, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) lawmaker Vanama Venkateshwara Rao filed an emergency petition with the Telangana high court requesting a suspension of Tuesday’s ruling disqualifying him as an MLA, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
In his lunch motion petition filed with the high court, Venkatesh Rao requested that the implementation of the judgement be stayed so that he could file a petition for special leave with the Supreme Court.
After hearing the MLA’s arguments, the high court withheld judgement.
Tuesday, the high court nullified his election from the Kothagudem assembly constituency in the Bhadradri Kothagudem district in the December 2018 assembly elections on the grounds that he had failed to provide complete details about his and his wife’s properties in the election affidavit filed with the Election Commission of India, as required by Section 125A of the Representation of the People (RP) Act.
Venkateshwara Rao was fined 5 lakh by the high court for filing a false affidavit.
In addition, the court proclaimed his closest rival Jalagam Venkat Rao, who lost the election by more than 4,300 votes, to be the MLA as of December 12, 2018.
Venkat Rao stated that he anticipated the verdict and was ecstatic to be appointed MLA.
“I knew my argument had merit and the truth will always prevail,” he said.
After being elected on the Congress ticket, Venkateshwara Rao defected to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now BRS). Venkat Rao, on the other hand, has continued in the BRS.
Venkat Rao approached the state assembly secretariat on Wednesday and submitted a copy of the high court’s ruling declaring him to be the MLA for Kothagudem in lieu of Venkateshwara Rao.
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“I submitted the high court order and other pertinent documents to the assembly secretary with a request that the high court judgement be implemented. After obtaining legal counsel, the officials stated that they would initiate the process as soon as possible, Rao told HT.
He added that he had also called the assembly speaker, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, who had promised to investigate the matter.
Venkat Rao declined to comment when asked if the assembly authorities would have to wait for the Supreme Court’s ultimate decision.
“I’ve presented my argument. It is up to the assembly authorities to decide,” he explained.
