Supreme Court Accepts A Writ Petition To Increase Assembly Seats

The Supreme Court (SC) has admitted a writ petition filed by Professor K Purushotham Reddy, seeking direction from the Central govt to implement the provision in the APRA (Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act) 2014 to increase the number of Assembly seats in Telangana from 119 to 153 and in AP from 175 to 225.

It ordered notices to the Central government and Election Commission of India, bNewesides the govts of Telangana and AP, according to Marri Shashidhar Reddy, former Vice-Chairman, NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority).

It was also ordered that the writ petition might be tagged with the writ petition (C) 237/2022 that challenged the delimitation process in Jammu and Kashmir, earlier this year (Haji Abdul Gani Khan Vs. Union of India). This matter was posted on September 29, 2022.

The Central government has previously cited that the provision in Section 26 of the APRA to increase seats in the Telugu States is subject to Article 170 of the Constitution to take up readjustment of seats only after the first census after 2031.