3 min readHyderabadApr 14, 2026 05:53 PM IST
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has called for a protracted struggle to increase seats in the southern states on the pro-rata principle. Speaking at the 135th birth anniversary function of Dr B R Ambedkar, the CM said that Southern India will be meted out grave injustice on the 50 per cent seat increase formula. He warned that women, SC and ST communities will lose their representation in legislative bodies.
“There should be a long struggle against the Union Government to demand an increase in seats in Southern states based on the pro-rata principle during the delimitation of constituencies. The BJP has conspired to reduce the seat quota for Southern states under the pretext of increasing representation based on a 50 per cent growth. It is high time we united and fought for an increase in seats in the southern states based on the pro-rata principle,” Reddy said.
“BJP is engaging in conspiracies regarding the delimitation of constituencies. The Centre’s move would result in grave injustice to women, SC and ST communities in the Southern states,” the CM said, and wondered if Union Ministers are aware of the Centre’s attempt to reduce seats in Southern states.
The Telangana CM, who is staunchly opposing the delimitation criteria, also proposed a hybrid model for delimitation of Lok Sabha seats, suggesting that 50 per cent of the increase be allocated on a pro-rata basis and the remaining 50 per cent based on each state’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).
“Increasing Lok Sabha seats based only on population would lead to inequalities between the southern and northern states. In the long term, it will be a disaster for the South. The Centre proposes to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats by 272, which is 50 per cent of the total 543 seats at present. On a pro-rata basis, southern states, which currently have 130 seats, will grow to 195 seats, while the number of seats in northern states will increase from 411 to 621. It is an unfair advantage of 280 seats,” he said.
Instead, the CM suggested that the Centre should consider the economic indices of states over a decade or two and allocate seats to states based on their GSDP contributions — a pro-rata 50 per cent increase in seats. “The Supreme Court has restricted reservations to 50 per cent and left the remaining to merit; why cannot LS seats be awarded to states based on their economic contribution to the nation? States are tired of paying taxes. In Northeastern states and UTs, the number of LS seats is not decided on population,” he said.
The CM pointed out that the BJP-led NDA was trying to mix women’s reservation and the delimitation exercise, and wanted to push it through without building a consensus. He said the Congress’s stand has been clear about 33 per cent reservation for women in the legislature, and also reservation for women belonging to the Backward Classes (BC) as a separate quota within the 33 per cent reservation.
