THE TELANGANA GAZETTE

PART–II EXTRAORDINARY

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

No. 10]

HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2019.

NOTIFICATIONS BY GOVERNMENT

–––x–––

TELANGANA STATE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

R.N.I. No.TELMUL/2016/73158.

[Price : `

`. 15-00.

HSE. No. 1051/2017-19.

G -661/1.

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BEFORE THE HON’BLE CHAIRMAN

TELANGANA STATE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

AT : HYDERABAD

Wednesday, the 16^th January, 2019

Present: Sri K. Swamy Goud, Hon’ble Chairman

Disqualification Petition No. 2 of 2018

Between:-

Sri Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, M.L.C.,

Government Whip,

Telangana Legislative Council,

H.No. 8-2-293/82/Ng/32,

Nandagiri Hills, Jubilee Hills,

Hyderabad.

Sri Bodakunti Venkateswarlu, M.L.C.,

Government Whip,

Telangana Legislative Council,

Flat No. 179, Road No.10 C,

MPs’ & MLAs’ Colony,

Gayatri Hills, Hyderabad.

…Petitioners

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[Part-II

AND

Sri R. Bhoopathi Reddy, M.L.C.,

Aditya Villa Grande, Near Dhandamudi Enclave,

Jeedimetla (Vill), Quthubullapur (Mdl.),

Medchal District.

…Respondent

This petition having come up for hearing before me and after hearing the

arguments of Sri P. Mohith Rao, Advocate representing the Petitioners and Sri T.

Sujan Kumar Reddy, Advocate representing the Respondent, I pass the following:

ORDER

Sri Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, Member of Telangana Legislative Council,

Government whip and a Member and Leader of Telangana Rashtra Samithi Party

and another (herein after called “the Petitioners”) filed a petition before me on

17.12.2018 under Article 191 r/w Paragraph 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule to the

Constitution of India and Rule 6 of the Telangana Legislative Council (Dis-

qualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, (herein after called “the rules”) praying

that Sri R. Bhoopathi Reddy, Member of Legislative Council (herein after called “the

respondent”) be disqualified under the Tenth schedule to the Constitution and his

seat be declared vacant in the Telangana Legislative Council.

In the petition, the petitioners averred that the respondent, after having been

elected to the Telangana Legislative Council, indulged in anti party activities in as

much as he met the President of Indian National Congress Party and joined the said

party on 14.09.2018 and also contested on behalf of the Indian National Congress

Party in the pre elections from Nizamabad Rural Assembly Constituency, conducted

to the Telangana State Legislative Assembly on 07.12.2018, on account of the

Assembly being dissolved on 06.09.2018. In support of the contentions of the

petitioners, they had Annexed several newspaper clippings along with photographs

published therein and also news bulletins telecast in this regard in various electronic

media channels; and contended that the respondent incurred disqualification on

ground of defection as the respondent being an elected Member of the Legislative

Council set up by TRS Party joined another political party (Indian National Congress)

and therefore prayed that the respondent be disqualified under the provisions of

tenth schedule to the Constitution of India.

January 16, 2019]

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I have perused the averments in the petition and the annexed newspaper

clippings, media reports and videos; having satisfied myself that the petition

complies with the requirements of Rule 6 of the Rules and in terms of sub-rule (3) of

Rule 7 of the Rules, on 18.12.2018, caused a copy of the petition along with all

Annexures thereto be forwarded to the respondent, in relation to whom the petition

has been made, with a request to furnish his comments thereon, in writing within 7

days of the receipt of the same. In response thereto, the respondent through a

letter sought time till 24.01.2019 for submitting his comments on the said petition;

considering his request, he was granted time till 03.01.2019 as the sub-rule (3) of

Rule 7 of the Rules, Inter alia lays down that “a Member, in relation to whom the

petition has been made , shall, within 7 days of the receipt of copy of the petition or

such further period as the Chairman may have sufficient cause to allow, forward his

comments in writing thereon to the Chairman”. However, the respondent has not

filed his reply/ comments till 03.01.2019. On 04.01.2019, a further notice was sent to

the respondent as well as the petitioners requesting them to appear personally on

11.01.2019 at 12.30 PM to present their case; whereas the learned counsel for the

Respondent was present on 11.01.2019, filed comments and also sought time.

Therefore, the matter was adjourned for next day i.e. 12.01.2019. On 12.01.2019,

the learned counsel for the Petitioners, Sri P. Mohith Rao and the learned counsel for

the Respondent, Sri T. Sujan Kumar Reddy attended hearing and reported ready for

hearing.

Heard both sides.

Submissions on behalf of the petitioners:

The Petitioners are the members of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (hereinafter

referred to as ‘TRS’ for brevity) which is a “Legislature Party” in the Telangana State

Legislative Council and the respondent herein is a member of the TRS party; the

respondent herein was nominated by the TRS party for being elected a Member to

the Telangana State Legislative Council from the Nizamabad Local Authorities’

Constituency and got elected on 05.01.2016. It is pertinent to mention here that the

respondent herein was a member of TRS party on the date of his election to the

Council. Therefore, as per the explanation to para 2(1)(a) of X Schedule to the

Constitution, the respondent herein be deemed to belong to TRS party in as much

as he was a Member of TRS party on the date of his election to the Council.

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It is further submitted on behalf of the petitioners that TRS Party was formed

as a Political Party on 27.04.2001 with the stated objectives to have the Geographical

area of the present State of Telangana formed into a separate state. On account of

serious agitations for separation of Telangana Region from the State of Andhra

Pradesh, the Parliament passed the Andhra Pradesh Re-organization Act, 2014 (Act

29 of 2014) creating a new State i.e. State of Telangana with an appointed date of

2^nd June, 2014 with 10 Districts. After the Re-organization Act was passed and/but

prior to the appointed date, the General Elections were conducted and by that time

the TRS party was registered as a Political Party, and had a common election symbol

of “CAR” for all the contestants who were nominated as members in respective

Assembly Constituencies in the said elections.

It is contended that the respondent herein on 14.09.2018 went to Delhi and

joined Indian National Congress Party in the presence of its President Sri Rahul

Gandhi; his joining Indian National Congress is reported in all the leading

Newspapers along with Photographs such as Eenadu, The Hindu, Andhra Bhoomi,

Deccan Chronicle, The Hans India, Andhra Jyothi etc.. and was also telecast in

Electronic Media such as NTV, ETV, TV9, TV5, ABN Andhra Jyothi TV, Sakshi TV,

etc; and also contested from Nizamabad Rural Assembly Constituency on behalf of

the Indian National Congress Party in the elections that were conducted on

07.12.2018.

It is vehemently contended on behalf of the petitioners that the respondent

herein has conclusively by his acts and by conduct “voluntarily” given up his

Membership of TRS within the meaning of the said expression in para 2(1)(a) of the

X Schedule to the Constitution.

It is further contended that the action on the part of the respondent amounts

to “voluntarily giving up his Membership of such political party” the term such

political party meaning the TRS on whose nomination the respondent got elected as

Member of Legislative Council of the State of Telangana from Nizamabad Local

Authorities’ Constituency, within the meaning of said expression occurring in Para 2

(1) (a) of the X Schedule and explanation provided to sub Para 1 of Para 2 of X

schedule to the Constitution of India. And the conduct of the respondent visits the

Constitutional bar of disqualification to continue as a Member of the Legislative

January 16, 2019]

TELANGANA GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

Council, on account of defection suffered, as mandated under para 2 (1) (a) of the

tenth schedule to the Constitution of India. The Learned Counsel for the petitioners

also placed reliance on authoritative pronouncements of the Supreme Court in

Rajendra Singh Rana and others Vs. Swamy Prasad Mourya and others, Dr. Maha

Chandra Singh Vs. Chairman, Bihar Legislative Council, Kihoto Hollohan Vs. Zachillhu

etc., Ravi S Naik Vs Union of India and others, G.Vishwanathan Vs Hon’ble Speaker,

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, Madras and another, Konda Muralidhar Rao Vs

Dr.A.Chakrapani and 3 others, Speaker, Orissa Legislative Assembly Vs Utkal Keshari

Parida.

In reply to the notice received, the Respondent submitted his comments

through his counsel on 11.01.2019; it is taken on record.

Submissions on behalf of the Respondent:

The preliminary contention pleaded on behalf of the Respondent is that the

petition as filed is not maintainable and the same is liable to be dismissed in limini as

the same is not complying with Rule 7 (2) r/w Rule 6 (7) of the Telangana Legislative

Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules.

The learned counsel for the Respondent vehemently contended that the

petition is not maintainable as the same is wholly based on certain newspaper

clippings, media reports and videos. He further contended that he was unanimously

elected as Member of Legislative Council from Nizamabad Local Authorities’

Constituency and which election is not based on Party symbol nor the Election

Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 applies to such election, therefore,

the party norm under Para 2 of X Schedule is inapplicable and the petition is liable to

be rejected as not maintainable.

10.

It has been further contended on behalf of the Respondent that it is true that

the Respondent has contested from the Nizamabad Rural Assembly Constituency in

the State Legislative Assembly elections held on 07.12.2018 and lost, but the

contention that the same amounts to “Voluntarily” giving up his Membership of TRS

as enumerated under para 2 (1) (a) of the X Schedule of the Constitution of India is

denied, as it was the strategy of the TRS party that, some of its members join the

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Congress and other political parties, so that they become fully aware of the

happenings in those political parties, and further, if there is hung Assembly, in those

circumstances, not only to return back but also to bring with them the other elected

members of those Political parties, as such the respondent contested the said

election on Congress ticket. Therefore, the question of the Respondent having given

up his Membership of TRS does not arise and in spite of contesting the general

elections of 2018 held on 07.12.2018, as it was all part of the strategy of the TRS

Party and as such, it does not amount to “Voluntarily” giving up membership of the

political party, so as to fall foul of para 2 (1) (a) of the X Schedule to the Constitution

of India. That further, the Respondent had not acted against the aims, objectives

and interest of TRS party, and was never suspended from the TRS Party.

Consideration by the Tribunal:

11. The main contention of the petitioners is that the respondent was a Member

belonging to Telangana Rashtra Samithi Party as on the date of his election to the

Council is not disputed during the course of the hearing by the respondent; the

respondent having received the petition along with all Annexures filed his comments

to the petition, but nowhere in the said comments, he denied that he was not a

member of TRS party as on the date of his election. Therefore, in the absence of a

contra pleading or oral submission, it can be safely concluded that it is an admitted

fact that the respondent was a Member of Telangana Rashtra Samithi Party as on

the date of his election to the Council and be deemed to belong to TRS political

party.

12. The petitioners had relied mainly on newspaper clippings and video recordings

which appear on various TV channels as proof of the anti party activities of the

respondent and is having voluntarily given up Membership of the TRS party; the

respondent has objected to the use of newspaper clippings and video recordings as

evidence by the petitioners contending that newspaper articles cannot be relied

upon as evidence in the absence of any corroborative material. However, in the

instant case, I see no reason as to why so many newspapers and media channels

would publish /report something wrongly and if that was so, then the least that was

expected from the respondent was to forthwith deny the same and issue clarification

/ explanation in that regard. Many leading national and regional /state newspapers

January 16, 2019]

TELANGANA GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

and media channels did in fact report about the respondent joining the Indian

National Congress party in the presence of Sri. Rahul Gandhi. I have seen the video

records; video recording thus provide ample and irrefutable proof that the

respondent had indeed joined Indian National Congress Party and instead of

categorically denying or refuting the allegations appearing in the newspaper

clippings, media reports , he has himself admitted through his counsel during the

course of oral arguments that he had met Sri. Rahul Gandhi at Delhi and joined

Indian National Congress Party. He had also admitted in his comments to the

petition that he in fact, contested the General Elections to the Assembly held on

07.12.2018 from Nizamabad Rural Constituency on Indian National Congress ticket.

“2. Disqualification on ground of defection.—(1) Subject to the

provisions of paragraphs 4 and 5, a member of a House belonging to any

political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House—

(a) if he has voluntarily given up his membership of such political party;

(b) x x x x x x

Explanation—For the purposes of this sub-paragraph,—

(a) an elected member of a House shall be deemed to belong to the

political party, if any, by which he was set up as a candidate for election as

such member;

(b) a nominated member of a House shall,—

(i) where he is a member of any political party on the date of his

nomination as such member, be deemed to belong to such political

party;

(ii) in any other case, be deemed to belong to the political party

of which he becomes, or, as the case may be, first becomes, a member

before the expiry of six months from the date on which he takes his

seat after complying with the requirements of article 99 or, as the case

may be, article 188.

(2) x x x x x x

(3) A nominated member of a House shall be disqualified for being a member

of the House if he joins any political party after the expiry of six months from the

date on which he takes his seat after complying with the requirements of article 99

or, as the case may be, article 188.

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[Part-II

(4) x x x x x

Therefore, the above contention of the respondent is rejected. The

contention of the Respondent that he was unanimously and unopposed elected as a

Member of Legislative Council from the Nizamabad Local Authorities constituency

without any symbol or election symbol, therefore he does not incur disqualification is

misconceived. The material fact to be verified in the light of the provisions of Tenth

Schedule of Constitution of India is to ascertain the fact whether the Respondent was

a member belonging to a particular party and whether he had joined any political

party after six months from the date of his election to the Council. In the instant

case, the Respondent himself has admitted that he contested the Assembly election

held to State Legislative Assembly from Nizamabad Rural Assembly Constituency on

the Congress party ticket. Therefore, the very said submission of the Respondent is

sufficient enough to declare that he has incurred disqualification under law. The

other contentions of the Respondent need not be gone into, in view of his specific

admission that he joined Indian National Congress and contested the Assembly

election on the party ticket of Indian National Congress.

13.

Paragraph 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule states that ‘a member of a House

belonging to a political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House, if

he has voluntarily given up his membership of such political party’. The term

‘voluntarily given up membership’ has been amply clarified by the Supreme Court in

its judgment, dated the 9^th February, 1994, in Ravi Naik Vs Union of India [1994 AIR

1558, 1994 SCR (1), 754, 1994 SCC Supl. (2) 641, JT 1994 (1) 551, 1994 SCALE (1)

487], wherein the Court had inter alia observed as follows:-

“The words ‘voluntarily given up his membership’ are not synonymous with

‘resignation’ and have a wider connotation. A person may voluntarily give up his

membership of a political party even though he has not tendered his resignation

from the membership of that party. Even in the absence of a formal resignation

from the member an inference can be drawn from the conduct of a member that he

has voluntarily given up his membership of the political party to which he belongs.”

In the same case, the Supreme Court had upheld the decision of the Speaker of the

Goa Legislative Assembly disqualifying two MLAs, who were elected on the ticket of

the Mahrashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), on the conduct alone of their

accompanying the Leader of the Congress (I) Legislature Party in Goa, when he met

the Governor to show that he had the support of twenty MLAs.

January 16, 2019]

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14.

The Supreme Court in its orders, dated the 24^th of January, 1996, in G.

Viswanathan Vs. The Hon’ble Speaker, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, Madras &

Another [1996 AIR 1050, 1996 SCC (2) 353, JT 1996 (1) 607, 1996 SCALE (1) 531],

had also inter alia observed as follows:

“The act of voluntarily giving up the membership of the

political party may be either express or implied.”

15.

In view of such authoritative pronouncements by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,

while deciding the petition in which the allegation is of the violation of paragraph 2

(1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule, the role of the Chairman, as the designated authority,

is only in the domain of ascertaining the facts and once the facts are gathered or

placed to show some action, express or implied, within the meaning of paragraph 2

(1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule, to take a decision in the matter. The limited role

which a Presiding Officer has to perform under the above-cited paragraph of the

Tenth Schedule has been amply clarified by the Supreme Court in Dr. Mahachandra

Prasad Singh Vs. Chairman, Bihar Legislative Council & Ors [(2004) 8 SCC 747],

wherein, it had observed as under:-

“It may be noticed that the nature and degree of inquiry required to be

conducted for various contingencies contemplated by paragraph 2 of

the Tenth Schedule may be different. So far as clause (a) of paragraph

2 (1) is concerned, the inquiry would be a limited one, namely, as to

whether a member of the House belonging to any political party has

voluntarily given up his membership of such political party.”

16. As such, it now remains for me to decide, whether expressly or by impliedly

that the Respondent has voluntarily given up the membership of his political party,

namely, TRS Party. From the actions of the Respondent and based on the material/

evidence presented before me, it can be inferred that he has voluntarily given up his

membership of TRS Party.

17. After taking into account the facts of the case, the oral submissions made by

the Counsel for the Respondent during the personal hearing on 12.01.2019 and the

judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, which were cited by the Council for the

Petitioners particularly the observations of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Ravi S Naik

Vs Union of India and similar anti defection cases, it is crystal clear that the

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[Part-II

respondent, namely, Sri R. Bhoopathi Reddy, by his conduct and action, has

voluntarily given up his membership to the political party, viz., TRS Party to which he

was a Member as on the date of his election to the Telangana Legislative Council.

18. Therefore, I hold that the respondent, Sri R. Bhoopathi Reddy has incurred

disqualification for being a Member of the Telangana Legislative Council in terms of

para 2 (1) (a) of the tenth schedule to the Constitution of India. He has thus

ceased to be a Member of the Telangana Legislative Council with immediate effect. I

decide and declare accordingly.

EXHIBITS MARKED

Sl.

Exhibit

Date

Description of the Document

EXP1

5.1.2016

Gazette Notification Issued in Part-IV regarding the names of

Members elected to the Council from Local Authorities’

Constituencies.

EXP2

15.9.2018

Copy of the Newspaper item published in Saakshi Newspaper.

EXP3

15.9.2018

Copy of the Newspaper item published in Andhra Bhoomi

Newspaper.

EXP4

15.9.2018

Copy of the Newspaper item published in Andhra Prabha

Newspaper.

EXP5

15.9.2018

Copy of the Newspaper item published in Nava Telangana

Newspaper.

EXP6

15.9.2018

Copy of the Newspaper item published in Eenadu Newspaper.

EXP7

15.9.2018

Copy of the Newspaper item published in Vaartha Newspaper.

EXP8

15.9.2018

Copy of the Newspaper item published in Andhra Jyothi

Newspaper.

EXP9

12.12.2018

Copy of the Newspaper item published in Namaste Telangana

Newspaper.

EXP10

CD relating to Paper Clippings.

EXP11

CD relating to Videographs.

Printed and Published by the Commissioner of Printing, Government of Telangana at Government Central Press, Chanchalguda, Hyderabad.

K. SWAMY GOUD,

Chairman,

Telangana Legislative Council.

Hyderabad,

V. NARASIMHA CHARYULU,

16-01-2019.

Secretary to State Legislature.

K. SWAMY GOUD,

Chairman,

Telangana Legislative Council.

Hyderabad,

V. NARASIMHA CHARYULU,

16-01-2019.

Secretary to State Legislature.