The Centre on Tuesday made it clear that there will not be any increase in the number of seats to legislative assemblies ofAndhra Pradeshand Telangana till 2026. This in other words means that the next elections to the state assemblies of Telangana (2023) and Andhra Pradesh (2024) will be held as per the existing number of seats.

This is despite the promise made toTelugustates in Section 26(1) of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, that the number of seats in bifurcated AP will be increased to 225 from the present 175 and in to 153 against 119.

Telugu states anticipated that the seats would be increased before the First General Election post-bifurcation. However, it did not happen and is not going to be a reality even for the second and third general Elections too. The minister said that as per Article 170(3) of the Constitution, the total number of seats in the Assembly of each state will be readjusted after the first census is published post the year 2026.

As the next delimitation of the Assembly andParliamentseats is scheduled for 2026, the central government had decided to ignore Section 26(1) of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, he said.