Telangana HC tells EC not to issue election notification for three MLC seats

The Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission not to issue election notification for three MLC seats which fell vacant on the disqualification of MLCs Bhupathi Reddy, Yadav Reddy and Ramulu Naik.

The bench comprising of justice RS Chauhan and justice Shameem which heard the petitions filed by Yadava Reddy and Bhupathi Reddy told the election commission not to issue the notification until May 15.

IT further directed the election commission to submit the records pertaining to the disqualification of the MLCs. The plea of Ramulu Naik which is pending before the bench will be heard on May 15.

Bhupathi Reddy in his petition stated that he elected unanimously though he was nominated by TRS as its MLC. He further asserted that he could not be treated as a TRS candidate for the purpose of disqualification. He also challenged the validity of the rules prescribed in para 8 of the tenth schedule of the constitution that attach party tags even to unanimously elected candidates.

While Yadava Reddy's counsel D Prakash Reddy alleged that the former never joined Congress party. Yadav Reddy met Sonia Gandhi at a meeting here to thank her for granting Telangana as its statehood.