SRINAGAR: The Centre is considering a major overhaul of India’s parliamentary representation through a nationwide delimitation exercise that could increase the strength of the Lok Sabha by around 50 per cent and redraw the country’s electoral map before the next general election, according to government proposals and official statements.
The proposed exercise is aimed at addressing population imbalances in parliamentary constituencies by redrawing Lok Sabha and Assembly boundaries and increasing the number of elected representatives. Under the proposal, the Lok Sabha’s present strength of 543 elected members could rise to around 816, while the constitutional upper limit would be enhanced from 550 to 850 seats.
The delimitation exercise is expected to reshape parliamentary constituencies across the country and has triggered an intense political debate over representation, particularly among southern states, which have expressed concerns that population-based redistribution could reduce their relative influence in Parliament.
The proposed framework seeks to authorise Parliament to determine the timing of the delimitation exercise and the census that will be used for redrawing constituencies. The accompanying Delimitation Bill provides that the latest published census available when the Delimitation Commission is constituted would be used for the exercise.
Responding to concerns, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told Parliament that no state, particularly those in southern India, would suffer any reduction in representation. He said every state would witness an increase in seats under the proposed 50 per cent expansion model while broadly retaining its existing share of representation in the House.
According to the government’s projections, the number of Lok Sabha seats from the five southern states would increase from the present 129 to 195, maintaining their overall share at about 24 per cent of the House. Karnataka’s representation would rise from 28 to 42 seats, Andhra Pradesh’s from 25 to 38, Telangana’s from 17 to 26, Tamil Nadu’s from 39 to about 59 and Kerala’s from 20 to 30.
The delimitation proposal is also linked to the implementation of women’s reservation in Parliament and state legislatures, with the government arguing that the exercise is necessary to operationalise constitutional provisions relating to reserved seats.
However, the proposal has faced opposition from several political parties, which have argued that linking women’s reservation with delimitation could alter the country’s political balance and disadvantage states that have successfully controlled population growth.
Delimitation is a constitutional exercise undertaken to redraw the boundaries of parliamentary and Assembly constituencies to reflect demographic changes. The last nationwide delimitation was carried out in 2002 based on the 2001 Census, while the allocation of Lok Sabha seats among states has remained frozen since the 1971 Census under constitutional amendments intended to encourage population stabilisation.
