The bench told the petitioner he was "dialling the wrong number" and suggested taking the matter to the legislature.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking the mandatory rotation of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in Parliament and state assemblies. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V Mohana upheld an Allahabad High Court order validating Section 9(1)(c) of the Delimitation Act, 2002.
According to WION, the petitioner, Jagdish Singh from Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, challenged the continued reservation of his constituency. He claimed the arrangement had remained unchanged for over seven decades since 1952 and argued that the lack of a rotation mechanism infringed upon constitutional rights under Articles 14, 15, and 19.
The bench remarked that the judiciary could not act as a "third chamber of Parliament" to rewrite statutes or the Constitution. Justice Bagchi noted that while voter options might be limited in reserved areas, the fundamental right to vote remains intact. The court also stated that it could not assume voting is based on caste, as voters in a democracy often choose based on political ideology.
During the hearing, CJI Surya Kant quipped that the petitioner was "dialling the wrong number" and suggested that the current period was a "good season for protests and naarebaazi". The bench advised the petitioner to approach elected representatives to build consensus for legislative changes.
The court distinguished between the right to vote and the right to contest, noting that general category candidates can still contest in unreserved seats. The bench concluded that the policy for identifying reserved constituencies rests with the legislature and Parliament.
