Hyderabad: The BJP hopes to benefit from the impending delimitation of seats that is due for the two Telugu states by the next Assembly elections, as specified in the AP Reorganisation Act. With reports that the Centre has begun discussions to delimit constituencies for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, there are expectations that TS and AP are next in line.
Sources said that Union home minister Amit Shah is likely to hold meeting with political parties of the Telugu states to discuss the issue.
According to the bifurcation Act, Telangana state has to get 34 more seats and AP, 50. The number of Assembly segments will increase at the rate of two per Lok Sabha constituency. After delimitation, TS will have 153 Assembly seats from 119 now and AP 225 from 175 now. In the recent AP Assembly elections, the BJP was not able to open its account and did not win a single Lok Sabha seat. In Telangana state, the BJP won one Assembly seat and four Lok Sabha seats.
The TRS in TS and the Telugu Desam in AP had demanded an increase in the number of seats before the recent Assembly elections mainly with a view to making space field defectors.
The AP Reorganisation Act says the number of seats will be increased by the time of the 2024 Assembly elections. With more Assembly seats, the area of each Assembly constituency will be reduced and the BJP leaders hope they can benefit from this.
The BJP has no strong leaders to contest in all the Assembly constituencies in the both Telugu states and is admitting strong political leaders, former MLAs and others. They are also bringing pressure on the Centre to complete the delimitation exercise at the earliest.
Meanwhile, BJP MLC and Hyderabad unit president Ramachandra Rao said the party had no information about the delimitation of constituencies. He told this newspaper that the issue was looked after by the Union home ministry and they have no indications on the subject.
