SC Admits Petition To Increase Assembly Seats In AP, Telangana

The Supreme Court on Monday admitted a writ petition filed by Professor K Purushotham Reddy seeking a direction to the union government to increase the number of Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh from 175 to 225 and in Telangana from 119 to 153.

The petitioner asked the Supreme Court to direct the union government to increase the number of Assembly seats as per the provision in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act (APRA) 2014.

Supreme Court Justices Joseph and Hrushikesh Roy, who reviewed the petition, issued notices to the union government and the Election Commission of India, besides to the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Purushotham Reddy, a former head of the Department of Political Science in Osmania University, filed the writ after the union government went ahead to notify, on May 5, 2022, the order of the Delimitation Commission set up in 2020 to increase the number of Assembly seats in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir from 83 to 90, as provided for in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

In the past, the union government had said that the provision in Section 26 of the APRA to increase the Assembly seats in the two Telugu States was subject to the provisions of Article 170 of the Constitution that readjustment of seats could be taken up only after the first census after 2031.