Assembly Speaker G. Prasad Kumar is all set to hear the arguments on disqualification petitions filed against four BRS legislators who allegedly defected to the ruling Congress on Wednesday.
The Speaker, chairing the Tribunal constituted under Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, will hear the responses by the advocates of the petitioners and respondents. He will take on record the responses of MLAs Tellam Venkat Rao and M. Sanjay Kumar on Wednesday in two separate sessions followed by those from Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Arekapudi Gandhi the next day.
This marks the final stage of hearing into the petitions filed against eight of the 10 BRS legislators by the main opposition party. The Speaker has earlier completed the process pertaining to MLAs T. Prakash Goud, Kale Yadaiah, Gudem Mahipal Reddy and Bandla Krishnamohan Reddy. His verdict on these MLAs is reserved and the two-day exercise starting Wednesday marks the completion of the process pertaining to four more legislators.
Two MLAs Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari have not responded to the notices served by the Speaker. It will be interesting to see the course of action the Tribunal would adopt in the case of these two MLAs. The development assumes significance in the light of Supreme Court Chief Justice B.R. Gavai setting one-week deadline for the Speaker to complete the hearings and announce his decision. The Chief Justice was angry that the Tribunal did not take action within the October 31 deadline set by him.
Assembly sources however said the Speaker’s office is yet to receive the notice from the Supreme Court so far. But the Speaker had decided to speed up the process.
Published – November 18, 2025 07:49 pm IST
