To qualify, the opposition party had to command at least one-tenth of the total membership of the House. In Andhra Pradesh, this was achieved not by a stand-alone enactment but through the insertion of Section 12-B into the Andhra Pradesh Payment of Salaries and Pension and Removal of Disqualifications Act 1953, by Act 15 of 1978, with effect from April 7, 1978. Consequently, the so-called 10-per-cent rule in Andhra Pradesh rests not upon statutory mandate but upon convention and presiding officers’ directions. Andhra Pradesh political historyThe irony deepens when one recalls Andhra Pradesh’s own political history. The controversy in Andhra Pradesh reveals the insufficiency of such half-measures.