Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India informed the Hyderabad High Court that there was no need to update the Delimitation Order as there has been no change in the description or names of constituencies after the AP Reorganisation (Removal of Difficulties) Order 2015.
The EC stated this in a counter-affidavit following an order of the High Court on a petition filed by former minister Marri Shashidhar Reddy challenging the poll panel conducting elections without delimiting the Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies connected to the seven mandals in Khammam district which were transferred to AP.
The EC submitted that the Centre had issued the AP Reorganisation (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2015 changing the entries in the Second Schedule of the Reorganisation Act, which was the amended version of the Delimitation Order, 2008 pursuant to the reorganisation of the state along with the subsequent amendment.
The EC stated that it had issued a notification on September 22, 2018, including the merged villages of the seven mandals into the Rampachodavaram and Polavaram Assembly constituencies in AP.
As per the AP Reorganisation Order, 2015, Kukunoor, Velairpadu and Burgampahad (not including its revenue villages) under the Palavancha revenue division and the mandals of Chinttoor, Kunavaram, Vararamachandrapuram and Bhadrachalam under the Bhadrachalam revenue division of Khammam district of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh were transferred to East Godavari and West Godavari districts.
The EC submitted that its role in the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950 and Section 11 of Delimitation Act, 2002 was to merely update the Delimitation Order by making necessary changes on account of subsequent events to correct the description in the Delimitation Order 2006 which has become inappropriate.
