Bill to hike number of AP Legislative Council members introduced in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: A Bill to raise the number of members of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council from 50 to 58 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday, amid protests by some opposition members. As soon as Minister of State for Home H P Chaudhury rose to introduce the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2015, Vinod Kumar (TRS) said the Centre had assured that it would consult Andhra Pradesh and Telangana before bringing any legislation to amend the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

Saugata Roy (Trinamool) opposed the introduction of the bill saying a piecemeal legislation would not help settle various issues, which remain unresolved after Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh. Home Minister Rajnath Singh agreed that the bill was not comprehensive in nature and there was a need to resolve several issues. He said more such bills would be brought to Parliament to settle issues, which had cropped up following the creation of Telangana.

During the voice vote required for the introduction of the bill, some opposition members opposed it and were heard shouting "no". The bill was introduced in the House as the number of "ayes" was more than that of the "noes".

The Bill states that as per the Constitution, the total number of members in the Legislative Council would not exceed one-third of the total number of legislative assembly members and should not be less than 40.

After the division, AP was left with 175 members in the legislative assembly and the members in the state legislative council was 50. Since one-third of 175 come to 58, it was decided to increase the strength of the state's Upper House.