The Election Commission of India has told the Telangana High Court that it will not take further steps to conduct the Khairatabad byelection until the court disposes of a petition challenging the 2023 Assembly election result in the Hyderabad constituency.
The poll panel submitted an affidavit on Tuesday in response to directions issued by the High Court. The affidavit followed an earlier oral submission by the ECI’s counsel that the commission would wait for the outcome of the pending election petition before initiating the byelection process.
The petition was filed by P. Vijaya Reddy, who has challenged the election of Danam Nagender in the 2023 Telangana Assembly polls. Reddy has alleged that Nagender did not provide sufficient disclosure of the property details of his kin in the election documentation.
The case has implications for the timing of any fresh poll in Khairatabad. A byelection notification would normally begin the formal process for nominations, campaigning and voting, but the ECI’s affidavit indicates that those steps will not be taken while the validity of the earlier election remains before the court.
The High Court considered the issue during a hearing on October 1. A division bench questioned the ECI’s position after the petitioner sought directions preventing the commission from issuing a notification for the byelection while her election petition was pending.
Senior counsel Avinash Desai, appearing for the ECI, referred to a 2010 Supreme Court judgment in the case of ECI v. TRS. According to the submission recorded in the proceedings, the judgment held that the Election Commission should withhold the conduct of a byelection in a constituency where the validity of an earlier election has been challenged through an election petition.
Following the submission, the High Court directed the ECI’s counsel to place the commission’s position on record through an affidavit by October 6. The affidavit filed by the poll panel now formally records that it will not proceed with the Khairatabad byelection until the pending election petition is disposed of.
The immediate issue before the court is therefore not the scheduling of polling, but the legal status of the 2023 election result and the effect of the pending challenge on the Election Commission’s authority to conduct a fresh poll. The supplied report does not indicate when the High Court will decide the petition or whether a byelection notification had already been prepared.
Further action will depend on the disposal of the election petition and the subsequent directions of the Telangana High Court. Until then, the ECI has stated on record that it will not take steps to conduct the Khairatabad byelection.
