Shock to KCR, Naidu: No increase in MLA seats

The Centre on Wednesday clarified that there is no possibility of increasing the number of assembly seats either in Telangana or in Andhra Pradesh till 2026, as per the earlier Constitutional amendment.

In a written reply given to Telugu Desam Party Rajya Sabha member T G Venkatesh, the Union home ministry said as per the earlier amendment to Article 170 of the Constitution, delimitation of assembly constituencies would be done only in 2026 after the completion of Census process. If there has to be any increase in the number of MLA seats, the Article has to be amended again, it said.

This is definitely a big shock to both Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu, who have been lobbying for increase in the number of MLA seats.

While the number of was proposed to be increased from 119 to 153 in Telangana, it was to be from 175 to 225 in Andhra Pradesh.

Both the chief ministers had encouraged defections from the Opposition parties into the ruling parties in a big way, promising to field them in their respective constituencies or the new constituencies that are likely to be created due to increase in number of Assembly seats.