No Khairatabad bypoll notification until pending poll plea resolved: ECI tells HC
The commission’s submission was made before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice Vakiti Ramakrishna Reddy during the hearing of a lunch motion moved by Congress leader and former GHMC corporator Vijaya Reddy who finished as the runner-up in the 2023 polls, behind Nagender. This was last listed before a single judge in July 2025. Further, citing Sections 84, 98 and 101 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, he contended that the ECI lacks the legal authority to declare or notify a by-election for the Khairatabad seat while the outcome of her legal challenge is pending. Taking note of ECI’s stance, the bench directed the Commission to submit a formal affidavit confirming that no by-election notification will be issued in the interim and adjourned the case to Oct 6.
Meanwhile, after Nagender’s disqualification, Vijaya Reddy’s counsel moved an interlocutory application (IA) before the single judge requesting to have the election petition taken up and decided on a day-to-day basis so that the truth would come out and she would have the opportunity of being declared the successful candidate in the Nov 2023 polls.
Representing the petitioner in the present petition, senior counsel Vedula Venkataramana argued that SC precedent prohibits treating a seat as a “casual vacancy” while an election petition seeking a declaration of victory remains pending. Concurring with the argument, ECI standing counsel Avinash Desai assured the court that “the seat would not be declared a casual vacancy until the election petition reaches final adjudication”.
She had previously filed an election petition seeking to declare Nagender’s election null and void and recognise her as the winner. Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Thursday, informed the Telangana High Court that it would not hold a by-election in the Khairatabad Assembly constituency until a pending election petition filed by Congress leader P Vijaya Reddy is resolved.