Hyderabad, Sept. 18 -- The Telangana High Court Division Bench on Friday disqualified Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender and declared the Assembly seat vacant.

The petition was filed by BJP MLA Alleti Maheshwar Reddy and BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy.

The court also rejected a plea seeking to keep the order in abeyance to facilitate an appeal before the Supreme Court.

Reacting to the judgment, BJP leader and advocate K. Karuna Sagar termed it a "strong reaffirmation of the constitutional mandate against defection."

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KTR, in a post on X, wrote, "BRS MLA Danam Nagendar, who defected to Congress, got disqualified by the Hon'ble High Court today. The rest of the defectors will also meet the same fate...