Delimitation looks unlikely before 2026; several TRS leaders dejected

Hyderabad: With 'no support' coming from the Centre on the various issues raised by the party and its government, the TRS leaders feel they would have to wait until 2026 for the delimitation of constituencies in Telangana.

There has been a demand from the two Telugu States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for increasing the Assembly constituencies by taking up delimitation exercise as per the promise in the AP Reorganisation Act. The two State governments, particularly the Telangana government, have been urging the Centre to increase the seats.

The Section 26 (1) of the AP Reorganisation Act states 'subject to the provisions of Article 170 of Constitution,' the number of seats in the legislative assembly of the successor states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana shall be increased. The Centre had recently decided to increase the Assembly Constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir. Presently, the delimitation of constituencies in the country is frozen till 2026.

There were instances when the TRS leaders pressed the Centre on this demand. The TRS leader and present Planning Board Vice Chairman B Vinod Kumar had moved a private member bill in Parliament. In 2016, the then Union Minister and present Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, took the public representatives from the two Telugu states to the then Home Minister Rajnath Singh and also sought suggestions from the Attorney General on the issue. However, since then there has been no progress on the issue. Vinod Kumar had contended that the government needed to remove term 'Subject' and replace it with 'Not Withstanding' in the Section 26 of AP Reorganisation Act and it would not require any constitutional amendment.

A senior leader of the party said that the Centre was deliberately denying the rights of the people. "If the Centre desires, it can do it in a day but their party leaders, especially the State BJP leaders, don't want it," he said.

Minister KT Rama Rao, pointing out the increase of seats in Jammu and Kashmir, recently tweeted: "Strange are the ways of people in power at the Centre. Delimitation double standards: One rule for J&K, another for South India."