Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday, August 12, commenced hearing petitions against the Assembly Speaker’s decision dismissing the disqualification of 10 Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs who defected to Congress after the 2023 Assembly Elections.

A two-judge division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin will hear the petition, to continue the following day.

According to BRS counsels, Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar’s dismissal decision is “perverse, unsustainable and unconstitutional.” They argued that Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender, who was elected to the Assembly on a BRS ticket, voluntarily gave up his party membership by contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha election on a Congress ticket, thereby attracting disqualification.

Calling the Speaker’s decision an “imaginary interpretation,” the counsels said, “Under the Tenth Schedule, the moment anybody contests from another party, they attract disqualification, without requiring any further evidence. The Assembly Speaker’s decision is narrowed as he cannot look at the events happening outside the House.”