The Supreme Court has resolved contempt petitions concerning the Telangana Assembly Speaker’s handling of disqualification pleas against MLAs who switched from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to the ruling Congress. The Court directed the Speaker’s office to provide the decision to the petitioners by Friday and the complete records within four days. This action followed the Speaker’s reported decisions on all disqualification petitions.
Senior advocates representing Telangana informed the Court that the Speaker had made decisions on all pending petitions, indicating the end of the contempt proceedings. However, petitioners’ counsel argued that they had not received copies of the Speaker’s decisions, alleging deliberate delays to impede legal recourse. Responding to this, the Court instructed the Speaker’s office to deliver the decision to the petitioners promptly.
The dispute arose from the defection of 10 BRS MLAs, including prominent names like Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari, to the Congress after its victory in Telangana in 2023. The Supreme Court had previously directed the Speaker to expedite the disqualification process within three months, leading to subsequent contempt petitions for alleged non-compliance. In December of the previous year, the Speaker dismissed seven out of the ten disqualification pleas following the Court’s directives.
