‘Ghar wapsi won’t save you’: SC upholds disqualification of MLA who quit BRS

 The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the disqualification of Telangana legislator Danam Nagender from the assembly, observing that lawmakers who switch political parties forfeit their membership of the House even if they later attempt to rejoin their original party.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant dismissed the appeal filed by Nagender, who was elected to the assembly in 2023 on a Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) ticket but contested the 2024 Secunderabad Lok Sabha election as a Congress candidate.

The Telangana high court on September 18 disqualified him as an MLA with effect from April 2024 when he contested as a Congress candidate. Nagender challenged the ruling, saying he had already returned to the BRS after losing the Lok Sabha election.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Nagender argued one could voluntarily give up membership under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India, and now he had joined back the BRS.

The bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, weren’t convinced.

“How will your ghar wapasi (home coming) to your party save you? When an act of defection is done, you lose the membership of the House. You may be brought back to the party, but you have to leave the House,” the court said.

Nagender was part of the 10 BRS legislators who switched to the Congress in batches in 2024. His disqualification comes as a setback for the remaining eight MLAs as one among them has since joined the BRS fold. The high court order passed by a bench of chief justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and justice GM Mohiuddin held that with the disqualification of Narender, the Khairatabad seat fell vacant with effect from April 23, 2024.

Amused by the party-hopping politician’s approach, the bench said, “Your situation is not Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram. It is Phir Aaya Ram. You had a fixed deposit (FD) in your MLA seat and a share market investment in MP seat. It is a bumper draw you took. Now the FD stands forfeited.”

The BRS opposed the petition filed by Nagender claiming that his claims of joining back the party were factually incorrect. It was pointed out that a BRS MLA had sought his disqualification but the plea was rejected by the Telangana assembly speaker in March this year.

The court told Rohatgi, “Your party may be kind to you and even send you to Rajya Sabha. You can even contest and even become chief minister, who knows. But the Speaker may not be kind to you.”

The court dismissed the petition and upheld the HC order. The BRS had moved a disqualification plea against Narender that was dismissed by Telangana speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar.

BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA A Maheshwar Reddy challenged the Speaker’s order before the high court.

Following the high court order, Nagender requested for the order to be deferred to allow him to challenge the same in the top court. The high court declined the request, forcing him to approach the top court.

To be sure, the issue of delay by the Telangana Speaker in deciding the disqualification plea against the rebel BRS legislators, including Narender, was heard and decided by the top court last year.

In July 2025, the court had set a three-month deadline to decide the disqualification pleas. When this order was not complied, the BRS legislators filed contempt petitions in the top court that led to the Speaker passing orders. The Speaker order in favour of Narender was passed in March this year.