Telangana High Court on Tuesday declared as void the election of Vanama Venkateswara Rao as MLA from Kothagudem Assembly constituency in 2018 elections.
Pronouncing the verdict in an election petition, Justice G. Radha Rani of the HC declared Jalagam Venkat Rao, who lost to Mr. Vanama, as elected candidate with effect from December 12, 2018. The judge also imposed a fine amount of ₹5 lakh on Mr. Vanama as ‘penalty for filing false affidavit’.
Mr. Vanama won the 2018 Assembly election from Kothagudem on Congress ticket having secured 81,118 votes over his nearest rival Mr. Jalagam Venkat Rao of BRS who polled 76,979 votes. Some time after becoming MLA, Mr. Vanama joined the BRS. The HC judgement came even as the Election Commission of India is gearing up to hold Assembly polls in Telangana by this year-end.
Mr. Jalagam filed an election petition seeking to declare Mr. Vanama’s election as illegal and announce him as the elected candidate on the ground that Mr. Vanama had failed to furnish correct information and filed a false affidavit and also concealed information, which are mandated under Section 125A of Representation of People’s Act, petitioner’s counsel Ramesh Kuthumbaka argued.
While declaring Mr. Vanama’s election as void, the judge instructed him to pay costs to the petitioner. The judge held that Mr. Vanama suppressed information pertaining to his immovable assets while filing Form 26 affidavit on November 14, 2018. This amounted to “suppression of material facts and the same would amount to corrupt practice,” the judgement said.
Citing verdicts of the Supreme Court and different HCs, the judge said by virtue of Section 84 of the RP Act Mr. Jalagam was declared as elected candidate since he secured second highest number of votes in the election. Justice Radha Rani noted that Mr. Vanama, being a party to the proceedings, did not chose to enter the witness box.
He did not face the cross-examination either. “Thus, an adverse inference could be drawn against him as per Section 114 of the Evidence Act,” the judge said in the verdict.
