HC dismisses plea seeking rejection of Jukkal Congress candidate nomination

Hyderabad: On Thursday, a petition filed in the Telangana High Court alleged that the nomination of Thota Laxmi Kantha Rao, who is contesting in the ensuing State Assembly elections from the Jukkal Constituency (SC) on a Congress party ticket, has been accepted even after the candidate filed a false Scheduled Caste certificate to the returning officer (RO). The Telangana HC dismissed the petition saying that it is the duty of the RO to find out the details of the caste of the candidates.

A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice NV Shravan Kumar, was hearing a petition filed by Saudagar Gangaram, a former Congress MLA from Jukkal district in Kamareddy against the decision of RO accepting Kantha Rao’s nomination.

The RO from the Jukkal constituency accepted the nomination of Thota Laxmi Kantha Rao though he does not belong to Scheduled Caste, the petition said. The counsel for the petitioner said that Saudagar Gangaram had raised an objection before the RO seeking a direction to reject the nomination of Thota Laxmi Kantha Rao on the grounds that he had filed the nomination by producing a false SC certificate and sought an enquiry on the issue.

The Chief Justice Bench dismissed the writ petition stating that it cannot interfere with this issue at the stage, where the election notification has been issued and the process of elections has commenced. The Bench made it clear that it is the duty of the returning officer to go into the details of the caste.

Further, the Chief Justice Bench said that in the event of Thota Laxmi Kantha Rao winning the elections, the petitioner can contest the case by filing an election petition. The writ petition was dismissed.