Hyderabad: In a day of legal trouble for elected representatives from the Bharata Rashtra Samiti, the Telangana High Court struck down the election of Kothagudem MLA Vanama Venkateswara Rao and declared his defeated rival, Jalagam Venkat Rao, elected.
The BRS will not lose in numbers due to this: Venkateshwar Rao had got elected on a Congress ticket and defected to the BRS. Venkat Rao is a BRS leader.
In another case, the Supreme Court allowed the Telangana High Court to hear a petition filed challenging the election of Zaheerabad MP B.B. Patil. The apex court wanted the hearings to be completed at the earliest.
The HC is already seized of similar petitions challenging the election of tourism minister Srinivas Goud, civil supplies minister Gangula Kamalakar and social welfare minister K Eeshwar besides Vemulawada MLA Ch Ramesh.
In the Vamana Venkateswara Rao case, Justice G. Radharani of the High Court said that he had failed to furnish full information in the election affidavit as contemplated under Section 125A of the Representation of People’s (RP) Act . Further, the court imposed '5 lakh penalty on him for filing a false affidavit.
Venkat Rao submitted that Venkateswara Rao intentionally did not disclose the criminal case filed against him with the Kothagudem-2 Town police nor the property bearing H.No 20-2-208 on 300 square yards at Indiranagar, near Palvoncha.
Venkateswara Rao had claimed the ownership of the property in the election affidavits in 2004, 2009 and 2014. Other than those, Venakteswara Rao had not disclosed the property details of his wife and income from the Hindu Undivided Family.
Venkat Rao contended that the non-disclosure of facts amounted to violation of law.
Justice Radharani observed that the non-disclosure of assets and sources of income of the candidates and their associates would constitute a corrupt practice falling under heading ‘undue influence’ under Section 123(2) of the RP Act. Venkateswara Rao had knowledge of his assets and had the duty to disclose how the claims were settled and how he had relinquished his right over the properties.
“In the absence of any evidence in proof of the same, simply stating that since he had no claim over the property, he had not disclosed the same is not a justifiable explanation. As such, this court considers it as a corrupt practice falling under ‘undue influence’ under Section 123(2) of the RP Act,” Justice Radharani observed.
In another case relating to minister V. Srinivas Goud, the Telangana High Court dismissed his interim application seeking rejection of an election petition filed against him by a voter from the Mahbubnagar Assembly constituency in 2019. The voter had said that Srinivas Goud had suppressed full details of his family members’ properties in his election affidavit.
The petitioner said Srinivas Goud had not listed the immovable property acquired by his spouse under sale deed in 2014 and the mortgage loan of '12 lakh availed by her from the AP Grameena Vikas Bank for purchase of a vehicle. The minister also did not disclose the details with regard to his spouse’s account with the State Bank of India at Erragadda.
The petition has been pending since 2019 before the High Court. Meanwhile, Goud in 2023 filed an interim application stating that the petitioner had not followed the rules prescribed in the RP Act in filing the papers and documents and sought the dismissal of the election petition against him. Goud contended that the petitioner had not signed the documents as required.
After hearing the interim application, Justice M. Laxman rejected Goud’s contentions and the election petition will be heard soon.
Apart from these, there are election petitions pending against the election of ministers and BRS MLAs.
The election petition against minister Koppula Eshwar of Dharmapuri constituency is being regularly heard by the High Court. The keys of the strong room lock, in which EVMs and VVPATS of the 2018 elections were stored, were misplaced. The High Court has ordered that the locks be broken. The case is at the cross-examination stage and a decision is expected soon.
In the election petition against minister Gangula Kamalakar from Karimnagar, the High Court has recently taken evidence from petitioner Bandi Sanjay, former state BJP president.
Apart from that, a long pending decision over the citizenship of Vemulawada MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh is about to be declared. The Telangana High Court had reserved the orders about five months ago in the citizenship petition filed by Adi Srinivas of the Congress. The case has been going on since 2010.
