President Ramnath Kovind dismisses disqualification petition against Vijayasai Reddy

YSR Congress party leader and Rajya Sabha member Vijayasai Reddy has got a big relief over the petition filed to terminate him from Rajya Sabha membership citing he is holding another lucrative post. President Ramnath Kovind has dismissed a petition seeking disqualification of Vijayasai Reddy. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader CH Ramakotaiah has complained that Vijayasai Reddy is in a lucrative position as the state government's special envoy in Delhi at the cabinet rank.

Ramakotaiah objected to being a Rajya Sabha MP and holding the post of Special Representative of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The petition states that he should be disqualified from membership of the Rajya Sabha as he holds lucrative posts. The President took the opinion of the Election Commission on this petition, which said that it could not be considered under the Office of Profit as he did not take any salaries as a special envoy.

The Election Commission has stated that the Prevention of Disqualification Act does not apply to this. With this, the President decided to dismiss Vijayasai Reddy's disqualification petition as per Election Commission's opinion.