Context
The Telangana High Court set aside the Assembly Speaker’s order and disqualified Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender under the Tenth Schedule for voluntarily giving up membership of the party on whose ticket he was elected. Nagender had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election as a Congress candidate while continuing as a BRS-elected MLA since 2023. He continued to remain as MLA after losing the Lok Sabha election, without attracting disqualification.
Explanation
- The Tenth Schedule, inserted by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1985, contains the Anti-Defection Law.
- As per Anti-defection law, a legislator may be disqualified for voluntarily giving up membership of the political party on whose ticket he was elected.
- The Speaker/Chairman ordinarily decides questions of disqualification under Paragraph 6 of the Tenth Schedule. In the present case, The Speaker had cited a “lack of sufficient evidence” to prove defection while insisting Nagender was technically still with the BRS. The High court rejected this reasoning.
- Voluntarily giving up membership need not require a formal resignation; it may be inferred from the legislator’s conduct.
- Article 191(2) provides for disqualification of a State legislator under the Tenth Schedule.
- The Speaker’s decision is subject to judicial review, as established in Kihoto Hollohan v. Zachillhu (1992).
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Tenth Schedule: Defection, Speakers and Judicial Review