The Hindu, April 15, 2026
Lok Sabha seats will be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls following a delimitation exercise to be carried out on the basis of last published census.
According to the draft Constitution amendment bill, which will be introduced and expected to be passed in the upcoming special sitting of Parliament, seats would also be increased in state and Union territory assemblies to accommodate 33% reservation for women.
The seats reserved for women in Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies “shall be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a state or Union territory,” the bill circulated among Lok Sabha members said.
Besides other provisions, the bill seeks to amend Article 81 of the Constitution.
It states that “The House of the People (Lok Sabha) shall consist of not more than 815 mem-bers chosen by direct election from territorial constituencies in the states; and not more than 35 members to represent the Union territories, chosen in such manner as Parliament may by law provide.
”NDA sources, meanwhile, explained that the final number of seats will be determined by the Delimitation Commission, hence, the bill does not specify an exact seat count or a fixed per-centage (such as 50%).
The figure of 850 represents only the upper limit for the total number of Lok Sabha seats.
Seat allocation will be based on proportional representation and southern states are likely to benefit under this formula.
The 2011 Census is being used as the reference point. Due to more effective population con-trol in southern states, they could see a relative advantage in seat allocation compared to northern states, where population growth has been higher.
Expressing scepticism, opposition has questioned the principle being planned for delimitation.
Two prominent non-BJP chief ministers from the south, M.K. Stalin and A. Revanth Reddy, on Tuesday sharpened their attack against the Centre over delimitation, with the Tamil Nadu chief minister warning of “massive agitation” if the state was harmed and his Telangana counterpart flagging “injustice”. Separately, the Congress said when the intent behind a bill is mischievous and the content of it is devious, the extent of damage to parliamentary democracy is enorm-ous.
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