The delimitation of Assembly constituencies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh is gaining pace with the Centre initiating the process to amend the constitution.
As noted earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi upon his return from the US tour apparently gave explicit orders to expedite the process. According to the reports in DNA, the Union Law Ministry has been directed to finalise the draft of the amendment Bill in consultation with the concerned ministry.
The AP Reorganisation Act, Section 26 is about increasing the number of assembly seats in TS and AP. However, the delimitation of all constituencies in the country is frozen till 2026, as per the the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act in 1976 and the 91st Constitutional Amendment Bill in 2001.
The government sought advice of former Attorney General, Mukul Rohtagi on the same. Any such amendment to increase the seats could be legally questionable.
In the previous Lok Sabha session, minister for state of home affairs Hansraj Gangaram had said there will be no delimitation of seats in AP and TS till 2026. Conflicting the answer, the bill to increase the seats will be put forth in the upcoming monsoon session.
CMs of TS and AP, K Chandrasekhar Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu, have been tenaciously demanding for the delimitation of constituencies, so that they can placate their party cadre.
The number of seats in the Legislative Assemblies of TS will go up from 119 to 153 and from 175 to 225 in Andhra Pradesh before the 2019 elections.
