The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the disqualification of Telangana legislator Danam Nagender from the assembly, observing that lawmakers who switch political parties forfeit their membership of the House even if they later attempt to rejoin their original party.
Nagender challenged the ruling, saying he had already returned to the BRS after losing the Lok Sabha election. “How will your ghar wapasi (home coming) to your party save you? When an act of defection is done, you lose the membership of the House. His disqualification comes as a setback for the remaining eight MLAs as one among them has since joined the BRS fold. It is Phir Aaya Ram. You had a fixed deposit (FD) in your MLA seat and a share market investment in MP seat. It is a bumper draw you took. Now the FD stands forfeited. You can even contest and even become chief minister, who knows. But the Speaker may not be kind to you.”
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant dismissed the appeal filed by Nagender, who was elected to the assembly in 2023 on a Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) ticket but contested the 2024 Secunderabad Lok Sabha election as a Congress candidate. The Telangana high court on September 18 disqualified him as an MLA with effect from April 2024 when he contested as a Congress candidate. Nagender was part of the 10 BRS legislators who switched to the Congress in batches in 2024. The high court order passed by a bench of chief justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and justice GM Mohiuddin held that with the disqualification of Narender, the Khairatabad seat fell vacant with effect from April 23, 2024.
You may be brought back to the party, but you have to leave the House,” the court said. Amused by the party-hopping politician’s approach, the bench said, “Your situation is not Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram. The court told Rohatgi, “Your party may be kind to you and even send you to Rajya Sabha.
