Government Prepares to Increase Lok Sabha Seats to 850; Releases Draft of Women’s Reservation Amendment Bill

This is a proposed amendment to the Women’s Reservation Bill, aimed at increasing the total number of Lok Sabha seats to 850.

The bill proposes to increase the number of members to be directly elected from the states’ constituencies to 815, while keeping 35 seats for Union Territories (UTs), which will be elected in the manner prescribed by Parliament through law.

Currently, there are 530 members from the states and 20 from Union Territories in the Lok Sabha. However, a Delimitation Commission had fixed this number at 543. Another important change in the bill is regarding the definition of “population”, which gives Parliament the power to decide which data will be used as the basis for increasing the number of seats.

The bill proposes to amend Clause (3) of Article 81 of the Constitution as follows:

“(3) In this article, the expression ‘population’ means the population as ascertained in such census as Parliament may by law determine, and the figures of which have been published.”

The Union Cabinet has already approved a bill that seeks to amend the Constitution to implement 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies at the earliest.

Along with this, it also proposes to increase the number of seats in the Lower House of Parliament.

The amendment bill also proposes changes in Article 82, under which the words “after the completion of each census, the allocation of seats” will be inserted.

The objective of the proposed amendment is to delink the implementation of the women’s quota from the 2027 census and instead base it on the 2011 census, so that it can be implemented before the 2029 general elections.

The amendment to Article 82 also proposes to include the role of the Delimitation Commission.

The bill also talks about rotation of seats reserved for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies and includes provisions related to the period for which the women’s reservation will remain in force, subject to extension by Parliament.

It is worth noting that the government has called a three-day special Parliament session starting from April 16 to discuss and pass the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.

In this special session, the plan is to introduce a Constitution Amendment Bill to implement the Women’s Reservation Act 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam) at the earliest, a bill related to delimitation law, and a bill for the three Union Territories with legislatures — Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, and Puducherry.