An irked Supreme Court has given Telangana Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar two weeks to rule on disqualification petitions pending against 10 lawmakers who jumped from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi to the ruling Congress between March and June last year. This was after the 2023 Assembly election, in which the BRS - in power since the state was formed in 2014 - was thumped by the Congress.
A bench led by Chief Justice BR Gavai directed Gaddam Kumar - whom the BRS has accused of 'deliberate inaction' - to "finish it (the hearing) by next week or face contempt of court" after an earlier three-month ultimatum handed down on July 31 went unheeded. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented the Speaker, assured the court a decision will be made in two weeks.
The Speaker has to decide, the Chief Justice said, where wants to celebrate New Year's Eve, as the court heard arguments for contempt of court action against Kumar for ignoring its orders.
"... it is for him to decide. We have already held he does not enjoy constitutional immunity when considering these matters. And so, he has to decide where he has to celebrate his New Year's Eve."
"This is gross contempt of court," the Chief Justice thundered.
Petitions seeking the 10 BRS lawmakers' disqualification had been filed - under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which deals with defections - by BRS MLA Kaushik Reddy.
The delay in ruling on these prompted the BRS to approach the Supreme Court.
RECAP | BRS Welcomes Disqualifications Deadline, Flags Speaker's Delay
And, on September 29 - two months into the first deadline - the petitions were picked up, starting with those dealing with Prakash Goud, Kale Yadaiah, Mahipal Reddy, and BK Reddy.
RECAP | Telangana Speaker To Finally Hear Disqualification Petitions
This entire case is being seen as a crucial test of the anti-defection law.
The BRS has accused its defecting MLAs of "voluntarily giving up party membership", which, they have argued, constitutes a clear violation of the law and warrants disqualification.
Should the petitions be upheld, it will trigger by-polls for all 10 seats, a mid-term election that could dent the Congress' image, even if it manages to win even some of them back.
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