No official response has been provided regarding the Opposition party’s assertions.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh noted that Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has already raised concerns about the matter, with others likely to follow as this proposal becomes publicly known.
“The Modi government is pushing forward a Bill to escalate the size of the Lok Sabha by 50%. Each state’s allocated seats are also set to increase by 50%,” Ramesh remarked on X.
The notion that a uniform 50% increase in seats is fair is misleading, he stated.
While current proportions may remain unchanged, there are significant underlying factors that cannot be ignored, he added.
“Any widening of the gap in the existing strengths of states in the Lok Sabha will put South Indian states at a disadvantage,” Ramesh claimed.
“For example, Uttar Pradesh currently holds 80 seats while Tamil Nadu has 39. After the proposed Bill, Uttar Pradesh’s representation would soar to 120, while Tamil Nadu would increase only to a maximum of 59. Similarly, Kerala’s count would rise from 20 to 30 seats, and Bihar’s from 40 to 60 seats. Altogether, southern states will gain 66 seats compared to 200 more seats for northern states,” he pointed out.
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Ramesh alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unilaterally crafting a law that will disadvantage smaller states in the South, Northeast, and West.
“The Chief Minister of Telangana has already voiced his concerns. Others may join as this proposal becomes more widely known,” he remarked.
Last week, the Congress took a jab at Prime Minister Modi, claiming that the “U-turn Ustad” now intends to enact the women’s reservation law without completing the delimitation and census by rushing amendments through a “special two-day session” of Parliament.
The opposition party argued that this was a “weapon of mass diversion” meant to shift focus away from the government’s “foreign policy failures and setbacks, as well as the LPG and energy crisis facing the nation”.
Ramesh noted that the Modi government is also considering a 50% increase in the sizes of both the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas, which warrants careful examination.
In September 2023, the new Parliament House was inaugurated alongside the passage of the women’s reservation bill — or Nari Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 — which amended the Constitution to ensure one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas, as well as one-third reservation for women in seats reserved for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, Ramesh highlighted.
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Both reservations were set to take effect following the completion of delimitation and census exercises.
The government has been contemplating amendments to the women quota law for its implementation without these processes.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah discussed this matter with some NDA constituents and a few non-Congress opposition floor leaders last month. However, discussions with the principal opposition party, Congress, and another significant party, TMC, have yet to occur.
In September 2023, President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Nari Shakti Vandan Bill, which is formally known as the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act.
