All set for more Assembly seats

AP and Telangana have been pleading for an amendment to the Reorganisation Act by inserting 'notwithstanding' in place of 'without prejudice' in the Section 26 of the Act paving way for increasing the number of seats in the Assemblies

New Delhi: The Centre is all set to amend the AP Reorganisation Act-2014 with respect to the Section 26 of the same to allow increase in the number of seats in the Legislative Assemblies of the successor States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The number of seats will go up from 175 to 225 in Andhra Pradesh once this happens and that of Telangana, from 119 to 153.

This follows the demand from the Chief Ministers of both the Telugu States. The two CMs had appealed to the Centre earlier that though the AP Reorganisation Act allowed the delimitation of the constituencies, the Section 26 stated that the delimitation could be done "without prejudice to the Section 15 of the Article 170 of the Constitution".

This prevented the process from being undertaken before 2026. Hence, both the governments has been pleading for an amendment to the Reorganisation Act by inserting 'not withstanding' in place of 'without prejudice' in the Section 26 of the Act. The Centre is now ready to take up the issue and amend the Act, according to Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu.

What did Attorney-General say in the past?
Earlier, both the Law and Home Ministries had sought the legal opinion and the Attorney-General stated thus:
“In the present case, it is pertinent to note that the provision is futuristic in its application, subject to the provisions contained in the Article 170 of the Constitution and without prejudice to the Section 15 of the said Act. In the Section 26, reference of this section has been made so that the arrangements envisaged under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 shall continue to be in place till the new delimitation exercise is undertaken subject to the applicable provisions of the Constitution.

The relevant proviso is the third proviso to clause (3) of article 170 of the Constitution which reads as follows: Provided also that until the relevant figures for the first census taken after the year (2026) have been published, it shall not be necessary to readjust--- (i) the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of each State as readjusted on the basis of 1971 census; and (ii) the division of such state into territorial constituencies as may be readjusted on the basis of the (2001) census, under this clause.)

Hence barring any readjustment required for the distribution of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe constituencies, it may not be necessary to do a full-fledged delimitation exercise to increase the number of Assembly Constituencies of both the States in the near future.”

What is the Centre doing now?
After meeting Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the issue of increasing the strength of Legislative Assemblies of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday that both the Telugu states have written to the Centre seeking implementation of the Section 26 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act which calls for increasing the number of seats in the Legislative Assemblies of the successor States.

The minister disclosed that two opinions had popped up on the options to give effect to the Section 26 of the AP Reorganisation Act - One was to amend the Constitution and the second was to amend the AP Reorganisation Act.Both the ministers took up the issue with the Law Secretary, Legislative Secretary, Home Secretary, Joint Secretaries of Home and Parliamentary Affairs Ministries and Law officers.

After deliberations, it was decided that the AP Reorganisation Act might be amended suitably in order to increase the number of Assembly seats in both the Telugu states. "Home Ministry will now write to the Ministry of Law which in turn will get the opinion of the Attorney-General of India. “The Central government is keen to amend the AP Reorganisation Act after getting the opinion of the Attorney-General. I am confident that the people of Telugu states will soon hear the good news", Venkaiah Naidu said.