Hyderabad: Former MP B Vinod Kumar urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take serious note of the Telangana assembly speaker G Prasad Kumar’s verdict on BRS MLAs who allegedly defected to the Congress, and to clarify whether a person elected as a member of one party can contest on another party’s symbol as a candidate in another election.Addressing the media at Telangana Bhavan along with party general secretary Soma Bharat on Friday, Vinod said the speaker delivered his decision two years after the petitions were filed and, in doing so, discharged the MLAs who contested in the Lok Sabha elections on other parties’ tickets. He said the move was nothing but a mockery of democracy.“The anti-defection law was undermined under Congress rule. The law was included in the 10th Schedule of the Constitution in 1985 during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure through the 53rd constitutional amendment. It stated that if one-third of the members moved to another party, they would not be disqualified. In 2003, when Vajpayee was PM, the law was amended to say that if two-thirds of the members switched parties, they would not be disqualified. Revanth Reddy’s govt has killed the law brought by Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress party,” the senior BRS leader said.He said Rahul Gandhi is travelling across the country holding the Constitution, but the same constitutional spirit is being violated in Telangana. “Danam filed an affidavit and contested on a Congress B-form. The ECI must clarify whether a person can contest from two or three parties at the same time,” he said.
