The Union government has circulated a draft bill to all Members of Parliament proposing an increase in the total strength of the Lok Sabha from 543 to 850. The move is presented as a key step towards implementing the 33% reservation for women in Parliament and State Assemblies.
The women’s reservation law was passed in September 2023, but its rollout was linked to the completion of a population census and a delimitation exercise. With the census expected to be completed only in 2027, questions were raised over whether the reservation could be implemented before the 2029 Lok Sabha election.
According to the draft, the Centre plans to proceed using the 2011 Census as the basis and bring certain amendments to enable faster implementation. A special session of Parliament is scheduled from April 16 to 18 to take up the proposed changes.
Under the proposal, 815 seats would be allocated to states and 35 to Union Territories, taking the total to 850. Of these, 273 seats would be reserved for women, and a new delimitation commission would be set up to identify the constituencies to be reserved.
The draft also states that seats are being increased on a proportional basis so that states such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala—cited as having better controlled population growth—do not lose representation due to delimitation. The government plans to move three bills in the special session, including a delimitation bill and a constitutional amendment, while opposition parties including the Congress and DMK have strongly criticised the move.
