J&K an exception, no delimitation exercise prior to 2026 Census: SC | India News

NEW DELHI: Acknowledging an exception carved out for Jammu and Kashmir, the Supreme Court on Friday stated delimitation workouts for different states can’t be carried out prior to publication of knowledge of first census after 2026 as that might be towards the mandate of Article 170(3) of the Constitution.“The delimitation process is, by design, a legislative and executive function. If the SC were to compel carrying out of delimitation exercise (in a particular state) through a judicial fiat, it would likely be construed as an interference in the policy-making prerogative of the Executive,” stated a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Ok Singh.Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Kant stated, “The Constitutional edifice carefully balances institutional roles, and any disruption of that equilibrium would undermine both the legitimacy and functional integrity of the democratic process.”The bench stated the constitutional mandate beneath Article 170(3) bars any delimitation exercise regarding states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana or every other state. It dismissed a writ petition difficult the Centre’s determination to conduct delimitation just for J&Ok and never for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, saying the constitutional mandate – delimitation exercise primarily based on first census after 2026 – doesn’t apply to UTs. The petitioner’s counsel Rao Ranjit stated that although J&Ok Reorganisation Act was handed in 2019, the delimitation exercise was carried out beneath the 2020 notification, however although the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act was handed in 2014, the delimitation exercise had not been carried out for these two states even after a decade.Solicitor normal Tushar Mehta together with ASG Ok M Nataraj for the Centre stated as per the mandate of Articles 80 and 170 of the Constitution, no readjustment of seats or divisions of states into territorial constituencies may be undertaken till the related knowledge from first census carried out after 2026 is printed. For the Election Commission, senior advocate Maninder Singh stated the EC has no jurisdiction to opine on the validity of delimitation exercise as its function is barely to facilitate implementation of the method. The SC accepted the Centre’s stand and stated the AP Reorganisation Act is topic to the constitutional provisions, as expressly supplied within the Act itself. If delimitation exercise is allowed to be carried out in some states, then it will open a flood gate of comparable calls for from the opposite states, he stated. The bench stated the petitioner can not search to draw delimitation parity between states of AP and Telangana with that of the Union Territory of J&Ok, to which Article 170(3) has no software. Though it acknowledged reputable expectations of individuals of the 2 states for delimitation exercise, it dominated that such expectations can not override constitutional mandate.