Centre No To Increasing Assembly Seats In AP, TS

Following mounting pressure from the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for the fulfillment of the terms of the A P Reorganization Act, the Centre today reiterated that it was not possible to increase the number of Assembly seats in the two Telugu states (from 119 to 153 in Telangana and 175 to 225 in Andhra Pradesh) as mentioned in the Act.

During the Parliament session which witnessed a pandemonium as the Congress, the TDP and other party leaders raised slogans demanding that the provisions of the reorganization act be fulfilled, Andhra Pradesh TDP MP Sujana Chowdhary urged the chair in the Rajya Sabha to clarify on the issue.

Following this, Union Minister Of State Hansraj Gangaram in a written reply cited Article 170 (3) of the Constitution, which states that the number of Assembly seats can be increased after 2026 after taking into consideration the details of the census conducted at that time, and informed the House that there was thus no possibility to increase the Assembly seats in the two Telugu states in the near future.

The AP Reorganization Act, however, clearly states that the Assembly seats may be increased from 119 to 153 in Telangana and from 175 to 225 in Andhra Pradesh.

To a separate query by TDP MP K Ravindra Kumar regarding the other promises, the Centre said that it had implemented all the promises mentioned in the 12th schedule of the Act.