The Telangana High Court on Thursday, August 24, set aside the election of BRS MLA from Gadwal, Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, for submitting the wrong affidavit. The court pronounced its order on a petition filed by his nearest rival DK Aruna alleging that Krishna Mohan had submitted false information in his affidavit during the 2018 elections. DK Aruna also happens to be Krishna Mohan’s aunt.
Krishna Mohan of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) was elected to the state Assembly from Gadwal, defeating his nearest rival Aruna by over 28,000 votes. Aruna, who had contested the elections as a Congress candidate, is now with the BJP. The judgement came four years after Aruna filed the petition, pleading the court to set aside Krishna Mohan’s election.
The court recognised Aruna as the MLA. It also imposed a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh on Krishna Mohan and directed him to pay another Rs 50,000 to Aruna towards legal expenses. Reacting to the high court order, Krishna Mohan said it pronounced the order ex-parte. He also announced that he would challenge the same in the Supreme Court.
Krishna Mohan is the second BRS MLA whose election has been set aside by the court in a month. On July 25, the high court had set aside the election of MLA Vanama Venkateshwar Rao and declared Jalagam Venkat Rao as elected to the Assembly from the Kothagudem Assembly segment.
The court pronounced the order on an election petition filed by Venkat Rao, challenging the election of Venkateshwar Rao. Interestingly, both the leaders are now in the BRS.
In the 2018 elections, Venkat Rao contested from the Kothagudem Assembly constituency on a BRS ticket. He lost to his nearest rival Venkateshwar Rao of the Congress by 4,139 votes. In January 2019, Venkat Rao filed the petition challenging Venkateshwar Rao. However, three months later, Venkateshwar Rao joined the BRS.