Former Union Minister Balaram Nayak got disqualified for three years Balaram Naik, a former Union Minister and senior Congress leader, has been disqualified by the Election Commission. For three years, he was forbidden from running in elections. Balaram Naik, who stood for Mahabubabad in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, failed to submit the details of his election costs to the Central Electoral Commission on time. CEC took it seriously, and he was disqualified as a result. Balaram Nayak has been barred from participating for both Houses of Parliament, the Upper and Lower Houses, for three years. Shashank Goyal, the state Chief Electoral Officer, issued a gazette notification in this respect. Balaram Nayak was elected to the Congress Party’s House of Representatives in 2009. Balaram Naik served in the cabinet of then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009. He was no longer involved in direct politics after that.