The Supreme Court on Monday permitted a young advocate to withdraw his public interest petition challenging the constitutional validity of the 84th and 87th Constitutional Amendments, which froze the basis of parliamentary and assembly seat allocation using the 1971 Census for Lok Sabha and the 2001 Census for Assembly constituencies.

The petition contended that the amendments violated the basic structure of the Constitution by continuing representation based on outdated census figures instead of the latest published census, as envisaged under Article 81.

The petitioner-in-person argued that nearly 70% of India’s present population, born after 1971, was effectively excluded from the exercise of apportionment and delimitation. Referring to rapidly growing urban centres such as Gurugram, Noida and Mohali, he submitted that the existing scheme diluted the value of votes in densely populated constituencies.

The Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana, however, questioned the premise of the challenge, observing that the freeze on delimitation did not deprive citizens of either their right to vote or their right to contest elections. It noted that while population growth may have affected the value of votes within constituencies, there was no asymmetrical treatment among States that would undermine the constitutional scheme. Appreciating the petitioner’s interest in constitutional law, the Court remarked:

The Court further observed that the issues raised were essentially matters of legislative policy requiring a constitutional amendment by Parliament, and suggested that the petitioner could instead make a comprehensive representation to the appropriate stakeholders. Instead of dismissing the petition on merits, the Bench permitted its withdrawal, observing:

The writ petition was accordingly dismissed as withdrawn with liberty to pursue an appropriate representation before the competent authorities.