Hyderabad Nearly two years after proposing to abolish the state legislative council in Andhra Pradesh and withdrawing the proposal a year ago, the ruling YSR Congress party in Andhra Pradesh is all set to occupy almost the entire upper house this year.
At present, the YSRCP has 32 MLCs in the 58-member state legislative council, followed by 16 members of the Telugu Desam Party, four members of the Progressive Democratic Front representing teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies, two members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and four independents.
A senior official of the state legislature said as many as 22 seats under various categories in the upper house are going to fall vacant in three phases this year due to completion of term of the sitting members and they would be replaced by new members.
“Of them, 14 members would retire by March 29, seven by May 1 and two others by July 20. These vacancies would have been filled before the completion of their term,” the official said.
Out of these 23 members, seven MLCs would have to be elected under the MLAs’s quota; nine MLAs under local bodies’ quota; three under graduates’ quota; two under teachers’ quota and two under the Governor’s quota.
{{/usCountry}}Out of these 23 members, seven MLCs would have to be elected under the MLAs’s quota; nine MLAs under local bodies’ quota; three under graduates’ quota; two under teachers’ quota and two under the Governor’s quota.
{{/usCountry}}Since the YSRCP has 151 elected MLAs in the state assembly, besides the support of four other defected TDP MLAs, all the seven MLCs of the ruling party would get elected unopposed to the upper house under the MLAs’ quota.
Similarly, the YSRCP can easily win nine MLC seats under the local bodies’ quota as well, as the party had won nearly 90 per cent of the seats in the local bodies in the elections held in 2021. The two seats under the Governor’s quota, too, will be filled up only by the YSRCP candidates, as per the recommendation of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
For the MLC elections under graduates’ quota, Jagan has announced his party candidates well in advance – S Sudhakar for north-coastal Andhra and V Ravi for Rayalaseema and they have already stepped up their campaign. For the teachers’ constituencies too, the YSRC is contemplating fielding its candidates.
“So, it is going to be a cakewalk for the YSRC to capture all the 23 MLC seats given the overwhelming majority it has and it is going to be a record of sorts in the history of Andhra Pradesh,” said political analyst Ramakrishna Sangem.
He pointed out that of these 23, the YSRC would be capturing 17 seats from the opposition, including the 12 from the TDP, two from the BJP, two from Progressive Democratic Front and one independent seat, taking the tally of the ruling party in the 58-member assembly to 49.
“The TDP will be left with just four MLC seats in the council while there will be three independents and two candidates of Progressive Democratic Front in the council,” Sangem said.
When the YSRCP came to power in May 2019, it had just nine MLCs in the legislative council, while the TDP had 33 members. The Jagan Mohan Reddy government had to face a tough task in getting certain legislations like the three capitals bill and the one on introduction of English medium in government schools passed in the council due to lack of majority.
Frustrated over the TDP dominance in the upper house, the Jagan government got a statutory resolution adopted by the state assembly on January 27, 2020 under Article 169 of the Constitution of India, requesting the Centre to abolish the state legislative council.
While introducing the resolution, the chief minister said the Upper House had become a stumbling block for his government in taking important policy decisions and getting legislative approval. He also asserted that the legislative council did not serve any purpose, as there were more educated and intellectual members in the assembly.
He even reasoned that the council was causing a huge burden on the state exchequer to the extent of ₹60 crore every year, which the cash-strapped state could not afford to continue.
The resolution was sent to the Union home ministry, which has not taken any action on the proposal since then. Initially, the Jagan government made a couple of representations to the Centre asking for early abolition of the legislative council, it stopped pursuing the matter later, as the strength of the ruling YSRCP in the council began increasing due to periodical elections.
On November 23, 2021, the Jagan government withdrew the resolution to abolish the state legislative council on the grounds of “putting an end to the uncertainty and ambiguity in the state legislature” and decided to continue the upper house.