New Delhi wants to enact a law that will increase the strength of the lower house by 57% to 850 seats<\/p>\n
India has proposed a major expansion of seats in the Lok Sabha, its lower house of parliament, with a draft bill being shared with lawmakers to amend the constitution.
\nIf the bill is passed, the new Lok Sabha will comprise 850 members, up from 543 now, an increase of 57%. The strength of the house is capped at 550, and an amendment is needed to raise it.
\nIndian law mandates an adjustment in the allocation of seats, based on the population of its states, after every census is completed.
\nThe current Lok Sabha is based on the 1971 census. India then passed an amendment by which constituency boundaries were frozen until the first census after 2026.
\nThe world\u2019s most populous country\u2019s massive census exercise, which began on April 1, is expected to conclude in 2027.
\nThe government hopes to remove the 2026 clause and enact a delimitation, or the process of fixing the boundaries of electoral constituencies, based on the 2011 census.
\n\u201cThe country\u2019s demographic profile has since undergone substantial changes,\u201d an official statement on the proposed law\u2019s objectives to revisit the freezing of seats said. Another aim of the proposed amendment is to ensure 33% of seats for women.
\nNew Delhi says the latest census and delimitation exercise will \u201ctake considerable time and thus, delay the effective and dedicated participation of women in our democratic polity.\u201d
\nThe move has been criticized by opposition parties, which argue that the exercise should be based on the updated 2021 census exercise, which was not published due to the Covid lockdown.
\nIndia\u2019s constitution does not specify a fixed schedule for conducting the census.
\nIndia\u2019s southern states have expressed concern that a slower population growth rate in the region would offer an undue advantage to the north by adding more seats to populous states.
\nThe chief minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, M.K. Stalin, has warned of a massive protest if the delimitation proposal affects southern states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi wants to enact a law that will increase the strength of the lower house by 57% to 850 seats India has proposed a major expansion of seats in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t