Hyderabad: The Telangana Legislative Assembly has passed a resolution voicing serious concerns over the impending delimitation exercise, citing a lack of transparent consultations with key stakeholders. The resolution, moved by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, urged the central government to ensure a fair and inclusive approach in the process.
“This House expresses its deep concern on the manner in which the impending delimitation exercise is being planned, without any transparent consultations with the stakeholders,” the resolution stated. The Assembly emphasized the need for extensive discussions with state governments, political parties, and all concerned stakeholders before carrying out the exercise.
A key issue highlighted in the resolution was the potential reduction in representation for states that have successfully implemented population control measures. “The states which have effectively implemented the population control program pushed by the Centre, and consequently whose population share has come down, should not be penalized. Population should not be the sole yardstick for delimitation,” it asserted.
The resolution also referenced the 42nd, 84th, and 87th constitutional amendments, which were introduced to promote national population stabilization but have not yet been fully realized. As an alternative, it proposed redrawing constituency boundaries while maintaining the freeze on the number of parliamentary seats. The goal would be to enhance representation for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and women.
“Hence, while continuing with the freeze on the number of parliamentary seats, taking the state as a unit, redrawing the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies can be taken up, duly augmenting the SC and ST seats as per the latest population and also providing for reservation for women,” the resolution suggested.
Additionally, the Telangana Assembly called for an increase in the number of seats in the State Legislative Assembly from 119 to 153, in accordance with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014, and the latest census data.
