New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking delimitation of Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The plea, filed in 2022 by Professor Purushotham Reddy, requested directions for increasing the number of constituencies as per Section 26 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Koteswar Singh ruled that Section 26 is subject to Article 170(3) of the Constitution, which mandates that delimitation can take place only after the first census post-2026.
The court observed that entertaining such pleas could open the floodgates to similar petitions from other states, potentially disrupting the constitutional framework. It emphasized that delimitation rules differ between states and Union Territories and must be applied accordingly.
Rejecting the petitioner’s claim of discrimination against Andhra Pradesh and Telangana compared to Jammu and Kashmir, the bench clarified that excluding these states from the J\&K-specific notification does not constitute bias. Thus, the court dismissed the petition filed by Purushotham Reddy.