HYDERABAD: A bench of the Telangana High Court on Friday took up a writ petition seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India and other election officials to delete the name of Congress candidate Mamidala Yashaswini from the electoral rolls of Nagarkurnool Parliamentary constituency and Achampet Assembly constituency in Telangana.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice NV Sravan Kumar, was hearing a petition filed by Kampally Deva, a Dindi village in Nagarkurnool district.
Senior counsel L Ravichander, representing Deva, informed the court that Yashaswini is contesting the coming election on a Congress ticket from the Palakurthy constituency, but she is not a resident of India. “Instead, she is an NRI who has spent approximately 5.5 months in India over the last five years,” senior counsel said, adding that this makes her ineligible to contest the elections in Telangana under Section 19 of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1950.
Senior counsel also said that Yashaswini, despite being an NRI, has not surrendered her EPIC (Electoral Photo Identity Card) number as required.Following the arguments, the bench directed counsel for the petitioner to gather information regarding the date of publication of the draft electoral revised list and the date on which the final electoral revised list will be published. The Court then adjourned the matter to November 15, 2023.