Aruna filed a petition claiming that the affidavit filed by Krishna Mohan Reddy in the run-up to the election was factually incorrect.
DK Aruna, Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy. (Sourced)
In a development that has come as a shot in the arm for the BJP, the Telangana High Court on Thursday, 24 August, disqualified the sitting BRS MLA Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy from the Gadwal Assembly constituency and declared his nearest rival DK Aruna as elected.
The court delivered the verdict on a petition filed by Aruna that the election affidavit filed by Krishna Mohan Reddy at the time of his election was factually incorrect.
“Justice has finally been delivered, although delayed. I filed this petition four years ago. I have lost over three years of my tenure. I would have been an MLA for four years now had this judgement come earlier. I will collect the order copy tomorrow and meet the Speaker to take oath as MLA,” an ecstatic DK Aruna told South First.
Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy won the 2018 Assembly elections by polling 1,00,057 votes, defeating Aruna, who contested on the Congress ticket at the time and secured 71,612 votes.
Even as Aruna’s petition was being heard in the high court, Aruna left the Congress and joined the BJP.
The court also ordered Krishna Mohan Reddy to pay a penalty of ₹3 lakh. Reddy is likely to move the Supreme Court challenging the high court’s order.
Aruna served as minister for information and public relations in Andhra Pradesh in the Cabinet led by late YS Rajasekhara Reddy between 2004 and 2009.
She also served as the minister for small-scale industries, sugar, khadi, and village industries in K Rosaiah’s Cabinet between 2009 and 2010.
She represented Gadwal in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly between 2004–2014 and in Telangana Legislative Assembly between 2014 and 2018.
Aruna, who won the 2004 election on a Samajwadi Party ticket, later joined the Congress. She joined the BJP in 2019, after she lost the election to the Lok Sabha from the Mahbubnagar constituency.
The BJP appointed her as one of its national vice-presidents in September 2020.
Now that Aruna is the MLA of Gadwal, the BJP might be able to further consolidate its position in the Mahbubnagar district.
Lately, the high court has been disposing of several election petitions. Recently, it quashed the election of Vanama Venkateswara Rao as the MLA from Kothagudem and declared his nearest rival Jalagam Venkat Rao as elected.
The BRS had suffered no loss in terms of its strength as Vanama Venkateswar Rao won the 2018 election on the Congress ticket and later joined the BRS.
Jalagam Venkat Rao contested against Venkateswara Rao as the BRS candidate in the election, who obtained a stay order from the Supreme Court on the disqualification order issued by the high court.
The high court has been hearing petitions against ministers and several MLAs, most of whom belong to the BRS, including ministers Koppula Eeswar, V Srinivas Goud, and Gangula Kamalakar.
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