Andhra Pradesh's youngest minister Kidari Sravan Kumar resigned from the cabinet on Thursday, a day before the expiry of six-month period during which he was supposed to get elected to either house of the state legislature.
The Minister for Health and Tribal Welfare submitted his resignation at the Chief Minister's office.
The 28-year-old, who was inducted in the cabinet on November 11 last year following the killing of his father and Member of Legislative Assembly from Araku by Maoists, contested as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate from the same constituency in the elections held on April 10.
Since there was no by-election to Araku (reserved for Scheduled Tribes) seat, represented by his father Kidari Sarveswara Rao, he had to wait for the general election held last month. As a result, Sravan could not get elected to either of the house in the specified period.
As per the Constitutional provisions, anyone who becomes a minister should get elected to either Assembly or Council within six months.
According to Article 164(4) in the Constitution of India, "A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Legislature of the State shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister."
Since the six-month period was ending May 10, the office of Governor E S L Narasimhan had reportedly informed Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to ensure resignation of the minister by May 10, failing which he will be disqualified.
Naidu had inducted Sravan Kumar and N M D Farooq in his cabinet on November 11. Farooq was a member of Legislative Council.
Sravan's father Sarveswara Rao was gunned down by Maoists in September last year. As far as the killings of the two politicians were concerned, four months after the Andhra Pradesh state police began their investigation, the NIA took over the case suo moto in December 2018 and is presently investigating it.