Telangana High Court dismisses Koppula Eshwar's petition in MLA disqualification case

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday dismissed Social Welfare Minister and BRS leader Koppula Eshwar's interim petition in an ongoing case which challenged his election victory in 2018.

During the 2018 Assembly elections, Koppula Eshwar won from the Dharmapuri constituency with a narrow majority. His opponent Adluri Laxman Kumar contested on a Congress ticket and requested a recount of the election results. The election officials conducted the recount and confirmed Eshwar's victory. However, Adluri Laxman alleged that there were irregularities and illegal methods involved in Koppula's win. Consequently, he approached the High Court and sought to declare Koppula's election invalid and that he should be declared as the MLA.

In response, Minister Koppula filed an interim petition to reject Adluri Laxman's challenge. The High Court however ruled against the Minister's petition. The case has now been adjourned to Wednesday.

In another election-related case, the High Court has scheduled a six-day time frame from August 12 to 17 for the court commissioner to examine and record the evidence provided by BJP National General Secretary Bandi Sanjay. This case was filed by Sanjay against Telangana Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar.

During the December 2018 Assembly elections, Sanjay contested as a BJP candidate from the Karimnagar constituency but lost to Kamalakar of TRS (now BRS). Alleging irregularities and discrepancies in Kamalakar's record, Sanjay filed an election petition seeking his disqualification as an MLA.

The court, represented by Justice C Sumalatha, appointed former District Judge K Sailaja as the court commissioner to record evidence on behalf of the election tribunal regarding the Karimnagar Assembly tussle. Sanjay was called to provide his examination last week, but he expressed his inability due to a Parliament session. The judge has now set a new time frame for Sanjay to come and depose before the court commissioner and present his evidence. The next date of hearing for this case has been set for August 21.