Centre rules out rise in Assembly seats in TS, AP till 2026

Hyderabad: The Centre on Tuesday made it clear in Parliament that there were no immediate plans to increase seats in Legislative Assemblies of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by taking up delimitation of Assembly constituencies until 2026.

Union minister of state for home Nityananda Rai told Lok Sabha that as per Article 170 (3) of the Constitution, the total number of seats in the Assembly of each state would be readjusted after the publication of first Census after 2026. He said the Centre would take up delimitation of constituencies based on the new census post 2026.

Congress Malkajgiri MP  A. Revanth Reddy, the Telangana state Congress president, raised this issue in the Lok Sabha asking whether the Centre was planning to undertake delimitation of constituencies in Telangana state alongside Jammu and Kashmir.

Replying to it, the union minister said, “Section 26(1) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 inter-alia states that ‘subject to the provisions contained in Article 170 of the Constitution and without prejudice to Section 15 of this Act, the number of seats in the Legislative Assemblies of the successor states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana shall be increased from 175 and 119 to 225 and 153, respectively. As per Article 170(3) of the Constitution, the total number of seats in the Assembly of each state will be readjusted after the first census is published post the year 2026."

The Centre wants to take up the delimitation of constituencies in Telangana state and AP along with the rest of the country after 2026. The Centre amended the Act in 2002 not to have any delimitation till then.

Both Telangana state and AP have been repeatedly urging the Centre to increase seats in Legislative Assemblies as assured in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, for the past seven years. But the Centre's response in Lok Sabha on Tuesday ruled out such a possibility until 2026 and is widely believed that it will be based on the 2031 Census.