A bench of the Telangana High Court issued notices to 10 BRS MLAs who defected to the Congress after the 2023 Assembly elections without resigning from the pink party. They included Danam Nagender, Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, Kadiyam Srihari and Pocharam Srinivas. The court was hearing a PIL filed by Praja Shanti Party chief KA Paul, seeking the disqualification of these MLAs for violating the anti-defection provisions under the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sreenivas Rao, also issued notices to the secretary of the Legislative Assembly and secretary of the Election Commission of India (ECI), directing them to respond within four weeks.
According to Dr Paul, the MLAs were elected on a BRS ticket but defected to the Congress without resigning, which constitutes a breach of constitutional law. During the hearing, the petitioner urged the court to pass an interim order barring the defected MLAs from participating in the upcoming Assembly proceedings or exercising their voting rights. However, the bench refused to issue an interim order, observing that the petitioner failed to clarify whether the Telangana State Assembly is currently in session. The court adjourned the case, giving the respondents four weeks to file their responses.