Crime Today News
Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) has accused the Centre of conducting delimitation of assembly constituencies wherever it was convenient for them while ignoring it in states where it wasn’t going in their favour.
Addressing the all-party meeting of the leaders of southern states and Punjab against the delimitation proposal of the Centre held in Chennai on Saturday, March 22, KTR stated that the increase of assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as promised by the State Reorganisation Commission during the bifurcation of the undivided Andhra Pradesh hasn’t been kept.
He said that the increase of assembly seats from 119 to 153 in Telangana, and from 175 to 225 in Andhra Pradesh was yet to be implemented, 11 years after the bifurcation of the states.
“Where it was convenient for the Centre, like in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam, they did delimitation of assembly seats, and where it wasn’t, they didn’t,” he said.
Rejecting the Centre’s idea of increasing the Lok Sabha seats as per the pro-rata formula, he said that it would mean the number of seats may increase for a state like Punjab that way, but its total percentage of seats in the Lok Sabha will still come down, which defeats the very purpose,” he noted.
If delimitation was done on a pro-rata basis, he said that states which have failed to control their population will be rewarded, which he said, was a perverse reward, while punishing the states with reduced political representation.
“India’s democracy should be built on progress, governance and economic contribution, and not just on the basis of population,” he opined.
“The southern states have been pioneers in administration, education and economic production. Yet, we are penalised with reduced political power,” he added.
He suggested that a radical solution could be increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats in proportion to the southern states’ contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP).
“If southern states contribute 33 percent of the GDP, why not increase their Lok Sabha seats proportionately? If nation-building depends on states’ fiscal contributions, shouldn’t those states be rewarded?” he questioned.
KTR also pointed out that while Telangana’s population accounts for just 2.8 percent of India’s total, its GDP contribution stands at 5.2 percent.
As a practical solution, he suggested increasing the number of MLA seats in every state, emphasizing that MLAs are the first point of contact for the people, whereas MPs primarily focus on national policy-making.
“If MLA seats are increased, people will have better access to their representatives in a decentralized setup,” he opined.
He also suggested having a permanent freeze on increasing the Lok Sabha seats, by not increasing them anymore, going by the decision taken 1971.
“The Union government should not take hasty steps without a broader and inclusive consultation on delimitation. They have to involve the people, political parties, state governments, activists, organisations and the civil society groups,” he demanded.
Speaking on fiscal decentralisation and cooperative federalism, he said that the present dispensation in India was rewarding the laggards and penalising the achievers (states).
He highlighted that despite contributing to 33 percent of GDP, the southern states have been getting a smaller share of central resources, which was raising huge concern on fiscal centralisation.
“Delimitation will further centralize fiscal resources to the detriment of southern states,” he cautioned.
Quoting an eminent jurist, he emphasized that a true federation should neither allow one region to dominate another nor dilute democratic representation based on transient factors.
He warned that delimitation could disrupt India’s federal balance and widen regional disparities.
“History will not forgive us if we remain silent. This is the time to unite and fight against this fundamental inequity,” he urged the leaders.
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