Telangana HC Quashes Criminal Case Against Former Legislator E. Ravindra Reddy

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court quashed the criminal case filed against former Yellareddy legislator E. Ravindra Reddy for allegedly inducing members of women self-help group (SHGs) to vote for the TRS (now BRS), in the 2018 elections.

The case was filed at the instance of the Election Commission of India when Ravindra Reddy was contesting on a TRS ticket. He subsequently defected to the BJP. Jajala Surender won the election on a Congress ticket but later defected to the BRS.

Ravindra Reddy allegedly offered Rs 5 lakh to the SHG members if they voted for him, and a purported video of the incident was widely shared at that time.  He was booked on charges of committing electoral offence under Section 171 (E) of IPC which deals with bribery.

Ravindra Reddy approached the High Court in 2022 to quash the case.

Justice K. Lakshman of the High Court after perusing the case details found that on the date of the alleged video clipping, September 27, 2018, the election process was not set on motion. The election schedule was issued on October 7, 2018, and the date of final publication of electoral rolls October 12.