AP, Telangana must wait: SC rules out Assembly seat delimitation before 2026 census
In March, the Telangana Assembly passed a resolution urging the Centre to increase its Assembly seats from 119 to 153, in line with the AP Reorganisation Act
By Sistla Dakshina Murthy
Supreme Court (file photo)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to issue directions to the Centre to increase the number of Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, ruling that delimitation cannot be carried out before the first census conducted after 2026.
Delimitation frozen till post-2026 census
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh dismissed petitions seeking implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, provisions for delimitation of Assembly seats in the two States.
The court said that Article 170 of the Constitution, along with the 84th and 87th Constitutional Amendments, freezes delimitation until after the first census post-2026.
Centreās J&K decision not discriminatory: SC
The petitioners argued that the Centreās move to increase Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir from 83 to 90 based on the 2011 census, while excluding Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, was arbitrary and discriminatory.
However, the court held that Jammu and Kashmir, being a Union Territory after its reorganisation, is governed by parliamentary legislation, and Chapter III of Part VI of the Constitution, which applies to States, does not apply there.
Telangana Assemblyās plea for seat hike
In March this year, the Telangana Assembly passed a resolution urging the Centre to increase its Assembly seats from 119 to 153, in line with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act and the latest census data. The State sought necessary Constitutional amendments to ensure wider representation in the Assembly.
CM Revanth Reddy criticises Centre
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy criticised the Centre for its ādouble standardsā on delimitation. He recalled that in response to his question during his tenure as a Lok Sabha MP, the Centre had stated that delimitation would be carried out only after the 2026 census.
However, he pointed out that the Centre went ahead with increasing constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir using the 2011 census and initiated the delimitation process in Sikkim after a Cabinet resolution in 2018.
