Bill to increase Lok Sabha seats: How much will it cost govt exchequer?

New Delhi: As a new Bill proposes a Lok Sabha of 850 members, the government is looking at increased spending as well as a paucity of accommodation in the Lutyens Zone. A joint sitting of the Parliament could also run into space issues.

According to conservative estimates, the government spends approximately Rs 1 lakh per member each day the House is in session. This does not account for the expenditure of the government on the salaries, travel allowances, and medical facilities in addition to the expenditure on each constituency. Officials said that the hurdle they will face with the increased numbers will be with allocation, as houses in the Lutyens Zone are scarce.

Government sources said that the Parliament spends approximately Rs 1 lakh per member per day during the session, amounting to Rs 8 crore. Another estimate states that the Parliament spends Rs 2.5 lakh per minute during its sessions, amounting to Rs 8-9 crore per day. If the membership increases to 850, the daily expenditure is likely to shoot up by an additional Rs 3 crore.

This is, however, the operational cost of running the Parliament premises. Members of Parliament are entitled to a salary and several other perks. The current salary of an MP, as per the The Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act 1954, is Rs 1 lakh per month and a pension of Rs 25,000 in addition to Rs 2,000 for each year over a tenure of five years.

Members are also entitled to accommodation, a transit accommodation, and travel facilities such as free railway tickets, a free phone connection, free electricity and free water up to a certain limit, leading to a cost to the state exchequer of Rs 4.29 crore annually.

While there is no official word on the matter, an estimate suggests that adding 272 new MPs to the existing tally would cost an additional Rs 1,171 crore annually in Parliament alone. With an expansion of state assemblies and an addition of 4,000 new members, there could be another addition of Rs 5,000-8,000 crore annually.

Accommodation to members could prove to be an issue. In the Lutyens Zone, there are about 850 bungalows and some of these houses are allocated to embassies and public monuments. The rest is allocated to the government in various pools. The pool for Lok Sabha members used to be 517 bungalows till 2015, after which 340 flats were added after the construction of over 8-9 complexes in Baba Kharak Singh Marg.

The Parliament, however, is making provisions. “There are some Type 6, 7 and 8 Houses in Kidwai Nagar and Minto Road for government officials, which can be allocated if the need arises,” an official said, adding that any member who becomes a Cabinet minister is allocated a bungalow from the minister’s pool.

While there is adequate seating in the Lok Sabha in the new building, with 880-890 seats in each House, there is no space for 1,100 MPs. “The Samvidhan Sadan, which was built a century ago in 1927, could house 800 MPs for a joint sitting, but the new building perhaps does not have the same provision,” an official said.