Hyderabad, July 26, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has advocated reducing the minimum age limit for contesting Assembly and Lok Sabha elections from 25 years to 21 years, arguing that young people should get greater opportunities to participate in legislative politics.
In an interaction with IANS, Reddy said that when individuals aged 21 are eligible to become civil servants and hold positions such as mayors, there was no reason why they should be barred from contesting elections to the Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha.
The Chief Minister called for amendments to the relevant laws to allow candidates aged 21 and above to contest Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, while retaining 25 years as the minimum age requirement for Rajya Sabha elections.
He said the voices of young people must find representation in the Assembly, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, highlighting that a significant section of India’s population belongs to the Gen Z generation.
Referring to global practices, Reddy said several countries have lower voting age limits and pointed out that India had earlier reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 years through the 61st Constitutional Amendment during the tenure of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
He said that since young people are appointed to services such as IAS and IPS at an early age and also take up responsibilities in local governance, they should also be allowed to seek election to higher legislative bodies.
Reddy announced that the Telangana government would convene a special session of the State Legislative Council and Assembly in the first week of August to pass a resolution seeking a reduction in the minimum age for contesting Assembly elections. The resolution will subsequently be forwarded to the Centre.
The Chief Minister also spoke about Telangana’s infrastructure projects, including the Regional Ring Road, Metro Rail expansion, Musi River development, Adilabad Airport and bullet train alignment. He said final decisions on these projects were awaited before Cabinet approval could be considered.
Reddy urged the Centre to support Telangana’s development efforts, saying the state’s resources could contribute significantly towards achieving the goal of a developed India by 2047.
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