Telangana HC Rejects Puvvada's Plea to Quash Election Bribery Case
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by BRS former minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, former MLA of Khammam, requesting the quashing of a crime registered against him in 2014 for violation of model code of conduct during the general elections.
Ajay Kumar, then the Congress contestant from the Khammam Assembly constituency, was booked in a criminal case on charges of attempts to bribe voters by distributing liquor and cricket kits. The flying squad of the Election Commission of India (ECI) seized the material and lodged a complaint with the police, and a first information report was subsequently registered. Ajay Kumar later joined the TRS (now BRS) and became transport minister after he won the Assembly elections in 2018.
Challenging the FIR and seeking to set aside the case, Ajay Kumar approached the High Court in 2014 and the case has been pending since then. The court had earlier issued stay orders. After the final hearing, the High Court on Friday was not inclined to quash the case, and directed the police to follow the due process in probing the case.