The Supreme Court on Monday decided to examine a petition filed by Professor K. Purushottam Reddy seeking a direction to the Centre to enhance the Assembly seats of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
A Bench of Justices K. M. Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy issued notice on Mr. Reddy's writ petition to implement a specific provision in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014 to increase the number of Assembly seats in Telangana from 119 to 153 and in Andhra Pradesh from 175 to 225.
The court has sought a response on the plea from the Union, governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Election Commission of India.
The Bench further tagged the case along with a petition filed by Haji Abdul Ghani Khan, a resident of Srinagar, who has challenged the delimitation of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly seats. In the Jammu and Kashmir case, another Bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul has decided to examine the challenge to the "exercise undertaken in respect of the delimitation (in J&K) in pursuance to the notifications of March 2020 and 2021 and February 21, 2022. It had sought the Union's response.
The Jammu and Kashmir case is scheduled for September 29. Mr. Reddy's case is likely to come up along with it before Justice Kaul's Bench on the same day.
In the past, the Centre has reportedly denied any move to increase the Assembly seats in the two Telugu States, saying it could be done only after the publication of the census after 2026.
There has been a strong push to implement Section 26(1) of the 2014 Act, subject to Article 170 of the Constitution, to increase the Assembly seats of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
