‘Council’ dreams propel T leaders to ask for more Assembly seats

One of the important demands of the day from Telangana is to increase the number of seats in the Telangana state, on carving of which the Centre has been hasty.

Though the political stability of the forthcoming state, Telangana, is said to be the reason for the demand, the leaders of the region are actually craving out for Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) in the new state. Since the size of the Vidhan Parishad could not be less than 40 members and could not be more than one-third the membership of the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly), the leaders are now behind the number game.
A decision in these lines was taken when Congress MLAs and MLCs from the Telangana region met a couple of days ago in Hyderabad. It was unanimously supported by the gathering. As a consequence, Telangana Congress leaders under the leadership of Marri Sashidhar Reddy, vice- Chairman, National Disaster Management Authority and MLA, called on Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and put their demand before him on Tuesday.
However, while citing Article 171 of Constitution of India, the Constitutional experts are explaining the 'arithmetical and constitutional logic’ behind their demand.  Article 171 says, the total number of members in the Legislative Council of a State shall in no case be less than forty(40). It further said, the total number of members in the Legislative Council of a State having such a Council shall not exceed one-third of the total number of members in the Legislative Assembly of that State.
So, with the existing number of constituencies under the proposed Telangana state, which was only 119, the dream of Legislative Council could not be realized. Therefore, the Telangana leaders are after the number game, since the Legislative Council has emerged to be a political rehabilitation centre for politically unemployed and the present Legislative Councils in six states, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh, stand tall to prove it. 

-Naresh@Sakshipost