Seat rejig: TRS hopeful of adding more MPs in its kitty

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court admitting the case pertaining to the delimitation of constituencies in the two Telugu States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has raised the hopes of the TRS leaders as the party leaders feel that the Apex Court ruling would pave the way for increasing the seats from 119 to 153 in the State.

Taking up the delimitation of the constituencies has been one of the promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. As per the Act, the delimitation would be taken up in both the Telugu States and there is a proposal to increase two Assembly constituencies in each of the 17 Lok Sabha segments in Telangana that is 34 seats, taking the tally to 153 seats from the existing 119. Similarly, 50 additional seats in Andhra Pradesh can be formed taking the tally to 225 from 175.

The Supreme Court had issued notices to the Centre, the two Telugu States and also the Election Commission of India on a writ petition seeking implementation of Section 26 of the AP Reorganisation Act, which talks about increasing the seats in both Telugu speaking States.

This has created hopes among the party leaders as this would give more opportunities for the party. The TRS has been pitching hard for increasing the seats because of the overburdening of the leaders in the party by virtue of leaders joining from other parties.

In some constituencies, the former MLAs have become restless after their rivals, who became MLAs had joined the party and calling the shots in the constituency. The Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, on several occasions told the party leaders not to get agitated with the influx of leaders of other parties and to have patience as the seats would be increasing in the State. "If Supreme Court gives a ruling, the Centre will have to follow and it will be benefitting the party as we can get more seats. The opposition will not have even candidates to field," said a senior TRS leader.

However, there is a hurdle in the form of Section 26 (1) which States that inter alia, subject to the provisions contained in Article 170 of the Constitution and without prejudice to Section 15 of the Act.

The Planning Board vice-chairman B Vinod Kumar, who had raised this issue several times including bringing a private member bill as the MP, had advocated changing a word in the paragraph. He had said that the government needs to remove 'Subject's and replace it with 'Not Withstanding' in the section 26 of AP Reorganisation Act and this would not require any constitutional amendment.

Party leaders have big hopes on the Supreme Court otherwise the delimitation can be done only after 2026, which will be applicable in 2031.