Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday sought to provide a “workable explanation” for demarcation even as the Opposition expressed concerns about northern states benefiting from the process, while southern states are lagging behind due to a mismatch in population growth over the decades.
While speaking in Lok Sabha, Shah sought to clear the air amid opposition attacks on representation of southern states and said seats would be increased in proportion to the existing ones.
Shah was referring to the three bills introduced in the Lok Sabha, which seek to increase seats from 543 to 850 seats and ensure one-third representation in the Lok Sabha. The proposal has received protest from southern states and opposition parties over the advantage enjoyed by northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
“In Karnataka, there are 28 Lok Sabha seats out of a total of 543 seats, and 5.15% of MPs come from Karnataka in the Assembly. After the bill is passed, the strength of Karnataka MPs will be increased from 28 to 42, while representation will be 5.14%. So there is no loss for Karnataka,” Amit Shah told Lok Sabha.
Read also: What is the border demarcation bill, concerns about North versus South and why the opposition opposes it | He explained
Speaking about Andhra, he said while the number of Lok Sabha seats will be increased from 25 to 38, representation will be increased by 4.60% to 4.65% after demarcation.
He added, “In Telangana, there are 17 seats, while representation in the Assembly is 543 members, the representation percentage being 3.13%. Now, after an increase of 50% members, the seats will rise to 26, while the representation percentage will rise to 3.18%.”
In Tamil Nadu, the Union Minister assured the people of the state that their power will not decrease, but will increase.
He added, “39 representatives are elected from the state of Tamil Nadu, and in the House of Representatives, which includes 543 members, the representation percentage is 7.18%. After the increase, the strength of the representatives increases to 59, and their representation in the House, which includes 816 members, is 7.23%.”
He added that the number of Lok Sabha seats in the five southern states will increase from the current 129 seats to 195 seats, while representation will increase from 23.76% to 23.87%.
What does the new number look like?
The clarification from Amit Shah comes after Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said earlier in the day that Lok Sabha seats in all states will increase by 50% after the new delimitation process.
“Seats for all states will be increased by 50%. The total Lok Sabha seats will be 815, and 272 seats will be reserved for women,” Meghwal said, calling it a simple formula to ensure that no state is disadvantaged.
The clarification from the two ministers came at a time when the bill showed that the biggest winners were UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, MP and Maharashtra. On the other hand, the proposal showed that the laggards would be Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh (+Telangana), Odisha and West Bengal.
Given the numbers proposed by Shah, the new distribution would look like this:
The government has confirmed that the demarcation will be based on the 2011 census. The demarcation will also trigger one-third reservation for women in Parliament, a long-awaited plan approved in 2023.
