On Monday night, Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Tammineni Seetharam issued orders to disqualify eight MLAs, with four belonging to the ruling YSR Congress Party and four from the opposition Telugu Desam Party. The disqualifications were made under the anti-defection law, citing allegations of the MLAs "shifting their loyalties to other parties."

The disqualified members are Maddalo Giridhar Rao, Karanam Balaram, Vallabhaneni Vamsi and Vasupalli Ganesh from TDP and Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy, K Sridhar Reddy and Undavalli Sridevi from YSRCP, a circular from the Speaker’s office said on Tuesday.

“The following members of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly were disqualified on 26.02. 2024 by the Hon’ble Speaker, Andhra Pradesh, Legislative Assembly under X Schedule of the Constitution of India and as per the Members of Andhra Pradesh Assembly (Disqualification on grounds of defection rules), 1986,” it said.

The disqualified MLAs had shifted their allegiance from their original parties to other political entities, a move that, in the eyes of the Speaker, undermines the democratic fabric and the voters’ mandate.

The disqualification comes two weeks before the announcement of the schedule for assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh.

In a letter sent to the eight MLAs individually, the Secretary-General to the State Legislature, Dr. P. P. K. Ramacharyulu, conveyed that they have been disqualified as members of the 15th Andhra Pradesh State Legislative Assembly. The letters also stated that their seats have now become vacant.

The copies were sent to the Election Commission of India to enable it to notify the vacancies, people familiar with the matter said.

According to the CMO statement, the disqualification of the eight MLAs was initiated in response to petitions filed by both the ruling YSRCP and the TDP in January. Mudunuru Prasad Raju, the government chief whip, sought the disqualification of the four rebel MLAs, alleging that they violated the party whip by supporting the TDP candidate in the legislative council elections held in March of the previous year.

In a counter-petition, TDP whip Dola Bala Veeranjaneyaswamy also submitted a petition to the speaker, urging the disqualification of four TDP MLAs who had switched allegiance to the YSRCP shortly after the 2019 assembly elections.

Earlier, the Assembly Speaker had issued notices to all the eight MLAs to hear their version before disqualifying them.

According to Madabhushi Sridhar, a constitutional expert and former Central Information Commissioner, the disqualification of eight MLAs at this juncture, especially when the state is gearing up for fresh assembly elections, holds no significant impact.

“In any case, all the MLAs are going to be in their posts only for a few weeks. So, these eight MLAs are not going to lose anything after getting disqualified. If they want to continue to be MLAs till the last day, they can approach the court and get a stay on the speaker’s order,” Sridhar said.

The four disqualified TDP members refrained from making any comments on the matter. However, rebel YSRCP MLA from Venkatagiri, Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, said he would consider going to the court, after consulting his lawyers. “I am yet to get an official notification from the legislative secretariat in this regard,” he said.

Image source: Hindustan Times