Telangana HC Dismisses Petition Against Harish's Election to Assembly

Justice K. Sarath of the High Court said petitioner Gadhagoni Chakradhar Goud, who requested the court to declare the election of Harish Rao as illegal and void, had made only bald and vague allegations.

The court said Goud had not stated material facts in support of his claims as required under Sections 83 (1) (a) and 100 of the Representation of People’s Act (RPA), 1951.

Goud had alleged that on the polling day, November 30, 2023, at 4.05 pm, Harish Rao had called his followers and instructed them to increase the polling percentage. Within one hour, the polling percentage increased from 45 per cent to 85 per cent in particular polling booths, Goud claimed, and filed a pen drive with a purported audio recording from WhatsApp to support his claim.

Goud argued that Harish Rao had suppressed information of criminal antecedents which were required to be placed on record under RPA Section 33-A. He also expressed doubts over the expenditure details submitted by Harish Rao.

Harish Rao submitted that he had filed detailed information and particulars with regard to criminal cases pending against him as well as cases where he was the accused. He submitted that he had maintained a separate account for election expenditure which was submitted to the district election officer under RPA Section 78.

Harish Rao pointed out that the petitioner Goud, without filing primary documents or reliable source of information, had levelled allegations against him

The court pointed out that Goud had failed to give booth-wise and hour-wise particulars of the polling percentage and there was no mention of any complaint made to the returning officer. On Goud’s contention that he had made a representation to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for recounting of votes, the noted that he had done so on October 30, 2024, whereas the election results had been announced nearly 10 months prior, on December 3, 2023.

The court also noted that Goud had filed the election petition on January 10, 2024, and his representation to the ECI nine months later showed that it was an afterthought. Therefore, Justice Sarath said, that the court could not take the representation into consideration.

HC Condoles Demise of Justice Priyadarsini

The Telangana High Court on Tuesday held a Full Court reference to condole the demise of Justice M.G. Priyadarsini, judge of the Telangana High Court. Justice Maturi Girija Priyadarshini had succumbed in Hyderabad on May 4, 2025, to health related issues.

Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and judges of the High Court, registrars and the legal fraternity participated in the programme, recalled the services of Justice Priyadarsini and expressed heartfelt sympathies and condolence with the members of the bereaved family.

HC: Stop Debris Dump on Guttala Begumpet Land

Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed civic authorities not to dump any material on the land in Survey No. 63 in Guttala Begumpet. The interim order was made in a writ plea filed by Bukhtyar Khan and others questioning the “highhanded” action of the government in not only gaining access to the land of the petitioner but also violating court orders.

Their contention was that despite High Court orders to maintain status quo over the land, HYDRAA had installed signboards and the civic body was dumping the waste material there. It was the case of the petitioner that they were owners of the property, and the government was attempting to interfere with the possession of the property unlawfully.

Senior counsel A. Venkatesh and Pogulakonda Pratap pointed out that HYDRAA was a functionality of the state and could not claim that it was not a party to the earlier proceedings wherein the status quo orders were issued.

Senior counsel L. Ravichander, appearing for Raunaq Yar Khan, brought to the notice of the judge how the High Court as early as in 2018 had passed an interim order of status quo and had made it clear that any violation would be viewed strictly.

He pointed out that in an earlier round of litigation the government had lost its claim to the property in question and the government had not filed an appeal against the order of the single judge. Ravichander submitted that the government had erected a board stating there was violation of the court order and therefore it was interfering.

Neither HYDRAA nor the government was the executing authority of the court’s order, senior counsel Ravichander said. The judge accordingly directed that would will be no dumping of material in the land in question and adjourned the matter.

Mining Case: HC Reserves Order on Gali Janardhan’s Petition

The Telangana High Court on Tuesday reserved the orders in the interim applications filed by Gali Janardhan Reddy and Obulapuram Mining Company represented by its managing director B.V. Srinivas Reddy, seeking to set aside or suspend the CBI court orders which them to seven years imprisonment in the high-profile Obulapuram illegal mining case.

Justice K. Lakshman after hearing both sides, said that orders would be pronounced on Wednesday. The High Court would also pronounce the orders on Wednesday in the bail petition filed by Janardhan Reddy and would hear the case of IAS officer Y. Srilakshmi.

On Tuesday, CBI counsel Srinivas Kapatia argued that suspension of the conviction orders could be passed only in the rarest of rare cases. In the present case, there was no such necessity to suspend the conviction orders.

He also submitted that the CBI court had come to a conclusion on the charges and convicted the guilty after perusing the evidence. He submitted that the trial had gone on for long, and several opportunities were given to the convicted person to prove their innocence.

Counsels for Janardhan Reddy and the OMC argued that continued incarceration could lead to severe consequences for the company, including operational paralysis. Janardhan Reddy’s conviction could lead to his disqualification and could trigger a possible by-election notification.

HC Disposes Election Pleas Against Maganti

The Telangana High Court on Tuesday disposed of the two election petitions with regard to the 2023 Assembly polls, filed against the late Jubilee Hills MLA Maganti Gopinath as infructuous, following his demise last week. One of the petitions filed by Gopinath’s rival in the 2003 elections, Congress candidate Md Azharuddin, and the other by Naveen Yadav, a voter from the Jubilee Hills constituency. They had filed the petitions in 2024 seeking to declare the election of Gopinath as void.

Azharuddin had alleged there was tampering of EVMs; that there were no seals and some of them were in a tampered condition in respect of 26 machines. Therefore, counting of these EVMs could not be taken into consideration for declaring the result. Naveen Yadav, in separate petition, had also complained of tampering of EVMs and alleged that Gopinath had not disclosed details of his wife and his son and their properties in his election affidavit. Yadav had also complained that Gopinath had provided wrong details about his educational qualifications.