Supreme Court may have ordered the Telangana Speaker to decide on the disqualification petition against 10 MLAs of the BRS who have joined hands with the Congress within three months but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the state may see bypolls soon. Here’s why.
Published Jul 31, 2025 | 9:37 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 31, 2025 | 11:00 PM
Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly Gaddam Prasad Kumar
Synopsis: The BRS has hailed Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling directing the Telangana Assembly Speaker to decide on the disqualification of ten BRS MLAs who defected to the Congress shortly after the 2023 Assembly elections as a moral and political victory. However, the apex court’s ruling leaves sufficient wiggle room for the Speaker, and by extension, the ruling Congress, to manoeuvre.
The Telangana Assembly Speaker is expected to reject the petition of opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) seeking disqualification of 10 of its MLAs on the ground that they shifted allegiance to the ruling Congress.
This is the indication coming from sources in the Congress following the directive issued by the Supreme Court on Thursday that the Speaker should take a decision on the BRS’s petition within three months.
Well over a year since the BRS launched its campaign against 10 MLAs who won the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections on its tickets, only to later defect to the Congress, which went on to form the government with a majority, the Supreme Court has left the matter of their disqualification to the discretion of the Assembly Speaker.
The apex court, which had reserved its verdict in April 2025, delivered its order on Thursday, 31 July, instructing the Speaker to decide within three months. Crucially, it did not issue a direct order to disqualify the legislators, instead deferring the final call to the Speaker.
Even so, the BRS has hailed the ruling as a moral and political victory over the Congress. Party Working President KT Rama Rao responded by urging party workers to start preparing for by-elections in the ten constituencies.
“It doesn’t take much investigation to see that all ten MLAs defected illegally and have been actively participating in Congress programmes every single day. As I see it, we have three months to gear up for by-polls in all ten constituencies. Let’s get to work, guys!” he declared.
The BRS, by design, appears confident that disqualification and by-elections are a foregone conclusion. The party views the development as a chance to regain political ground and reshape public perception in its favour.
Party insiders claim that public sympathy for the BRS has grown, especially among farmers, who are reportedly disillusioned with the Congress government’s performance.
But the key question remains: will the disqualification actually happen?
The Supreme Court’s order has set only a three-month timeline for the Telangana Assembly Speaker, without explicitly directing the disqualification of the defected MLAs. This leaves a potential opening for the Congress to delay or avoid disqualifications altogether.
Sources within the Congress have strongly hinted that they expect Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar to reject the BRS’s petition seeking disqualifications.
One possible line of argument could be that, since the MLAs are still technically listed as BRS members in Assembly records and have not violated any whip issued by the party, disqualification under the Anti-Defection Law might not apply. The sole exception to this view could be Danam Nagender. The ‘on-paper’ BRS MLA, contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket unsuccessfully.
Such a scenario would favour the Congress, which is reportedly reluctant to face by-elections at this stage.
While the Congress could argue that any by-election losses would be expected – given that the seats were originally won by the BRS – it does not want to fuel a perception that it is losing ground.
Voters often lean towards candidates from the ruling party in by-elections, believing they can bring in more development funds and services. However, Congress insiders reportedly doubt whether that trend will apply in this case, given the mood on the ground.
In short, the Revanth Reddy government in Telangana does not want bypolls to the ten seats represented by the ‘turncoat’ MLAs in question.
Meanwhile, there is historical precedent for Speaker-led disqualifications in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
In 2008, during the tenure of Speaker KR Suresh Reddy, three rebel Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) MLAs – M Satyanarayana Reddy (Hanamkonda), S Bapu Rao (Boath), and T Jayaprakash Reddy (Sangareddy) – were disqualified for voluntarily giving up party membership.
In the same instance, six other TRS MLAs – S Santosh Reddy, G Mukund Reddy, Sara Rani, K Lingaiah, Narayanarao Patel, and D Srinivas Rao – had their resignations accepted before a decision was made on the disqualification petitions, thereby rendering the proceedings unnecessary.
They resigned a few months before the general elections in 2009.
At a press conference at the time, Speaker Suresh Reddy described his decision as a “balancing act,” saying, “whether they resign or attract disqualification, the end result is the same.”
He called the process a landmark in strengthening democratic institutions, though TRS leaders criticised the move and alleged that the Speaker had acted under government pressure.
The current crisis began after the Congress won the Telangana Assembly elections in December 2023, following which ten BRS MLAs switched to the ruling party without resigning their Assembly seats. The move triggered concerns over a potential violation of the Anti-Defection Law under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
The legal timeline unfolded as follows:
The ten MLAs who defected to the Congress are:
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
