PNS|Hyderabad
The Telangana High Court on Tuesday set aside the 2018 election of BRS MLA Vanama Venkateswara Rao from the Kothagudem Assembly constituency for suppressing information on his immovable assets while filing Form–26 during the polls.
The court also declared the petitioner Jalagam Venkat Rao, a TRS (now BRS) candidate and his nearest rival in the 2018 Assembly polls as elected.
Venkateswara Rao won from Kothagudem on a Congress ticket in the 2018 Assembly polls and later crossed over to the BRS (then TRS)
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Vanama Venkateswara Rao. Justice G. Radha Rani passed the order allowing the election petition (EP) of Jalgam Venkat Rao, a former MLA and the TRS (now BRS) candidate in the constituency, challenging Venkateswara Rao’s election.
“The election petition is allowed declaring the election of respondent No: 1 as the returned candidate for the 117 Kothagudem Assembly Constituency, Bhadradri Kothagudem District, Telangana, as void. The petitioner is declared as the returned candidate for the 117-Kothagudem Assembly Constituency with effect from 12.12.2018,”’ the order said.
“Respondent No: 1 is also sentenced to a fine of Rs 5,00,000 as a penalty for filing a false affidavit. Respondent No: 1 is also directed to pay costs to the petitioner,” the order added.
The petitioner said that Vanama Venkateswara Rao suppressed certain facts in his election affidavit regarding his immovable assets.
Despite repeated attempts, Vanama Venkateswara Rao could not be reached for his comments.
It is also to be noted that Venkateswara Rao did not choose to enter the witness box and face cross-examination. Thus an adverse inference could be drawn against him as per Section 114 of the Evidence Act, the court observed.
