Table of Contents
Composition of Lok Sabha
- Article 81 of the Constitution defines the composition of the House of the People or Lok Sabha.
- The maximum strength of Lok Sabha CAN BE 552
- 530 – States
- 20 – Union Territories
- 2 – nominated by the President from the Anglo-Indian community. (Article 331)
- Present strength of Lok Sabha is 545 (530 (states) +13 (UT’S) + 2 (nominated).
- Article 81 also mandates that the number of Lok Sabha seats allotted to a state would be such that the ratio between that number and the population* of the state is, as far as possible, the same for all states.
- This is to ensure that every state is equally represented.
- However, this does not apply to small states whose population is not more than 60 lakh. At least 1 seat is allocated to every state even if it means that its populationto-seat-ratio is not enough to qualify it for that seat.
- As per Clause 3 of Article 81, population, for the purpose of allocation of seats, means “population as ascertained at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published”.
- Delimitation is the process of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and state Assembly seats to represent changes in the population.
Changes in Strength
- Up until 1976, after every Indian Census the seats of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Sabha were re-distributed respectively throughout the country so as to have equal population representation from every seat.
- The apportionment was done thrice in 1951, 1961 and 1971.
- 489,503,520,545
The FREEZE
- During The Emergency, through 42nd Amendment, the government froze the total Parliamentary and Assembly seats in each state till 2001 Census.
- This was done mainly due to wide discrepancies in family planning among the states and thus giving time to states with higher fertility rates to implement family planning to bring the fertility rates down.
- States which had implemented family planning widely like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Punjab would stand to lose many parliamentary seats representation and states with poor family planning programs and higher fertility rates like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan would adversely gain many of the seats transferred from better performing states
- The present delimitation of parliamentary constituencies has been done on the basis of 2001 census figures under the provisions of Delimitation Act, 2002.
- However, the Constitution of India was specifically amended by the 84th amendment in 2002 not to have delimitation of constituencies till the first census after 2026. (Why 2026??)
- The number of Lok Sabha seats was frozen again at 545 till 2026.
Present day Scenario
- It is obvious that the freezing of the number of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats as per the 1971 Census figures has not helped in checking population growth.
- The more populous States continue to lag behind in family planning efforts.
- There is disparity (in terms of seat distribution) towards the North, particularly Uttar Pradesh.
- In North India, an MP is elected from a constituency which has population of 25 lakh but in many states, a constituency can have a population of 10 lakh.
- So, the average representation (from UP) is low as compared to many states.
- MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) Fund of Rs 5 crore has to be spent by a Lok Sabha member on constituencies of differing populations.
Gain vs Loss
- A study in 2001 revealed that had the number of Lok Sabha seats been revised as per the Census figures of 2001, the total number of seats in the Hindi belt (which includes Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Delhi) would have gone up to 270 from 239 by 2016. The total number of seats for the southern States of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh would have come down from 129 to 108
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