SC rejects Telangana, AP delimitation plea

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking a fresh delimitation exercise in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, ruling that there is a constitutional bar against taking up such a demand before the first census conducted after 2026, and cautioning that entertaining such public interest petitions could “open the floodgates” for similar pleas from other states.

- Utkarsh Anand

A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh delivered the judgment, firmly rejecting allegations of discrimination vis-à-vis the separate delimitation conducted for the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which was reconstituted in 2019 following the abrogation of Article 370.

“On a plain and harmonious reading... Section 26 of the AP Reorganisation Act (on increase in assembly seats) is subject to Article 170 of the Constitution,” said justice Surya Kant while reading the operative portion of the verdict.