Hyderabad: The bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories—J&K and Ladakh—and the subsequent increase in Assembly seats comes as a boon to the Telugu-speaking states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. As per sources, the Centre is mulling an increase in the number of seats in Telangana, Andhra, J&K and Sikkim.
According to the J&K Reorganisation Act passed by the Parliament last week, the effective strength of the state Assembly will increase from 107 to 114, including the 24 seats that currently fall under the limits of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. So, the current 87 MLAs of J&K will be increased to 94, but after taking away four of them from Ladakh, the current strength will be at 90.
This delimitation of Assembly seats and provision for reservation of SCs and STs will be carried out by the Election Commission as per the Act. However two more proposals for increasing Assembly seats in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim, are pending with the Centre for the past five years. The increase of MLA seats of Telangana and Andhra Assemblies have been promised in the AP Reorganization Act 2014 at the time of UPA-2 government. Sikkim’s increase too, has been a long-pending proposal.
As per the AP Reorganization Act, the strength of the Telangana Assembly will go up from the present 119 to 153, while that of AP will be increased from 175 to 225. In all the cases, there will be no increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats which can only happen only after delimitation based on the census of 2021, probably after 2024 elections.
The increase of Assembly seats has become a major political issue in these two states for the past few years, as Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and formerAndhra CM Chandrababu Naidu have lobbied hard for it. However, TDP pulling out of NDA in 2018 and KCR’s strained relations with BJP before the elections have come in the way of achieving this demand.
Now that the J&K Assembly delimitation issue has been sent for the examination of the EC, the matter of increasing the seats of Telangana and AP, along with Sikkim, too have come up for discussion before the poll panel. According to sources close to Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy, the entire issue will be decided by the EC next month.
Now that Jagan Mohan Reddy has come to power in Andhra and BJP has emerged as a frontrunner for the Opposition space edging out Congress in Telangana, the Narendra Modi-led Centre is open to considering the demand for hike in MLA seats in both the states, a senior BJP leader told this newspaper.
Moreover, EC, too, will find it convenient to constitute a delimitation commission for all the four states in a way that the process is carried out in a systematic manner. Increase of Assembly seats will definitely help KCR and Jagan expand their political bases by promising new seats to the second rung leaders in their respective parties by the next elections.