If the reports coming from New Delhi are to be believed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a go-ahead for increasing the number of MLA seats in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states.
During their visit to New Delhi last week to support the candidature of NDA nominee Ramnath Kovind for the presidential elections, both Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao strongly put forth the case for increasing the number of MLA seats, as per the commitment given in the AP Reorganisation Act.
The issue had been pending in the Prime Minister’s Office for quite some time and now, he reportedly gave the nod.
If the law is effected, the number of MLA seats will go up from 119 to 153 in Telangana and from 175 to 225 in Andhra and before the 2019 elections.
The delimitation of constituencies is expected to commence formally in about ten days. The necessary amendment to the constitution would be done during the monsoon session.
The Law ministry requested the state governments to put forth the administrative report to introduce the bill in the parliament.
From past one month, officials have been studying the delimitation of constituencies and reportedly have been conducting surveys.
The Election Commission has sent a notice to state election commission to collect the details on the delimitation of constituencies and submit a report accordingly.
The AP Reorganisation Act, Section 26 speaks about increasing the number of Assembly seats in TS and AP.
