VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has lifted the interim stay imposed by a single judge on the delimitation of wards in the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), directing the single judge to expedite the hearing and decide the matter at the earliest.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan passed the orders on Friday while allowing an appeal filed by the State government.
The bench clarified that it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case and that all issues would be examined by the single judge.
It noted the Advocate General’s submission that there was unlikely to be any final notification on the delimitation in the next three to four weeks.
The court observed that there appeared to be no sufficient grounds for the interim stay, particularly as the petitioners had not raised objections earlier against the delimitation notification.
The High Court also held that the exercise would not infringe their legal rights.
Visakhapatnam residents Narasimha Pratap Bhagavathula and Pulivarthi Geetha had challenged the delimitation, citing the 2027 Census process. On May 29, Justice Tuhin Kumar stayed the process.
The government challenged the order, arguing that ward delimitation was an internal electoral exercise aimed at ensuring equal representation and would not affect geographical boundaries or the Census.