HYDERABAD: With the Central government declaring Jammu and Kashmir as an Union Territory and deciding to take up delimitation of J&K Assembly seats, now there is every possibility of initiating the process of delimitation of Assembly seats in AP and Telangana too.
The exercise for the delimitation of Assembly seats will be taken up in Jammu and Kashmir very soon, which will see the number of seats increased from 107 to 114. According sources in the BJP, there is every possibility that an exercise for delimitation of Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana too would be taken up along with Jammu and Kashmir.
Section 26 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 proposed to increase the Assembly seats from 175 to 225 in Andhra Pradesh and from 119 seats to 153 in Telangana State. The Union government mentioned in the past that Article 170(3) of the Constitution provides for delimitation of Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana only in 2026. Recently, the Election Commission of India informed that they sought more information from the Ministry of Home Affairs on delimitation of Assembly constituencies in AP and TS.
If the Central government takes up the delimitation process in Jammu and Kashmir, then there would be every possibility of taking up of delimitation of Assembly seats in the two Telugu States. Then, AP and TS need not wait up to 2026 for delimitation of Assembly seats.