Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on Wednesday dismissed the disqualification petitions against five of the 10 MLAs who defected from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi to the ruling Congress after the 2023 state elections, reported The Hindu.

The speaker passed the order citing a lack of evidence, according to The Indian Express. He held that the MLAs remain affiliated to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.

Those who were granted relief are Alhambra MLA Tellam Venkat Rao, Gadwal MLA Bandla Krishnamohan Reddy, Rajendranagar MLA T Prakash Goud, Patancheru MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy and Serilingampally MLA Arekapudi Gandhi.

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The petitions against Kale Yadaiah, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Sanjay Kumar, Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari are yet to be decided.

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi had appealed to the speaker to disqualify the 10 MLAs in March 2024 and April 2024.

After the order on Wednesday, Bharat Rashtra Samithi Working President KT Rama Rao alleged that the speaker was “obeying the directions” of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.

“It is a cruel joke in democracy,” Rao was quoted as saying. “He [speaker] seems to be acting because, as the chief minister himself, on the floor of the Assembly said, nothing will happen to the MLAs who have defected. The speaker is also obeying his directions and dictums.”

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Rao said that his party will challenge the decision in the court.

On July 31, the Supreme Court directed the speaker to decide within three months on the disqualification of the 10 MLAs.

If political defections are not curbed, it has the potential to disrupt democracy, the court had said.

The bench had also set aside a Telangana High Court ruling that courts cannot impose a time limit on the speaker to decide on disqualification pleas.

On November 17, the court issued a contempt notice against the speaker for not taking a call on the pleas.