Archive · 18 Sep 2026
Telangana High Court Disqualifies MLA Danam Nagender After Defection
Danam Nagender won an Assembly seat in 2023 as a BRS candidate.
Later, he left BRS and joined Congress.
He remained an MLA after the Assembly Speaker rejected a request to remove him.
BJP and BRS politicians challenged that decision in court.
The Telangana High Court said Nagender should be disqualified under the anti-defection law.
It cancelled the Speaker’s decision allowing him to continue.
The court said the disqualification applied from the date of his election.
Nagender had also run for Parliament from Secunderabad in 2024 but lost.
Reports say he may decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Telangana High Court disqualified Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender under the anti-defection law.
The court set aside Speaker G Prasad Kumar’s decision allowing Nagender to remain an MLA.
Nagender won the Khairatabad seat on a Bharat Rashtra Samithi ticket in the 2023 Assembly elections.
He later joined Congress and unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad.
The petitions were filed by BJP leader Aleti Maheshwar Reddy and BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy.
- Who
- The Telangana High Court, Danam Nagender, Speaker G Prasad Kumar, and petitioners Aleti Maheshwar Reddy and Padi Kaushik Reddy.
- What
- The High Court disqualified Nagender as an MLA and overturned the Speaker’s decision allowing him to continue.
- When
- The verdict was reported as delivered Friday, with other reports describing it as delivered today; no calendar date is provided.
- Where
- The case concerned the Telangana Legislative Assembly and Nagender’s Khairatabad constituency; his parliamentary contest was from Secunderabad.
- Why
- The petitions followed Nagender’s departure from BRS, joining Congress, and contesting the Lok Sabha election as a Congress candidate.
Petitioners’ Position
Speaker’s Earlier Decision
Nagender’s Assembly membership
Petitioners’ Position
BJP and BRS legislators argued that Nagender should be disqualified after leaving BRS, joining Congress, and contesting the Lok Sabha election as a Congress candidate.
Speaker’s Earlier Decision
Speaker G Prasad Kumar had rejected the disqualification request and allowed Nagender to continue as an MLA; the High Court later set aside that decision.
- MLA
- Danam Nagender
- Assembly constituency
- Khairatabad
- Original party
- Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS)
- New party
- Congress
- Court ruling
- Nagender was disqualified under the anti-defection law
- Speaker’s decision
- The High Court set aside Speaker G Prasad Kumar’s decision allowing Nagender to remain an MLA
- 2024 Lok Sabha contest
- Nagender contested from Secunderabad as a Congress candidate and was defeated
- Effective date
- One report says the disqualification applies from the date of his election
