Karnataka to get 42 seats in Lok Sabha: Amit Shah addresses fear over southern states' shares amid delimitation row

Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday addressed fear over delimitation and it affecting the representation of southern states in the Lok Sabha.

"A narrative is being created and confusion is being spread that these three bills, the Constitutional Amendment Bill and the two related laws on delimitation and changes in election procedures, will reduce the representation of southern states in the Lok Sabha and cause them significant loss. The bill before the House is now the property of the House," Amit Shah said.

Providing practical examples, Shah said, Karnataka has 28 seats, which is about 5.15 per cent of the total representation of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha. After delimitation, Shah said this would increase to 42.

"In a House of 816 members, its share will be around 5.14 per cent. So, there will be no real loss to Karnataka," Shah said.

Similarly, for Andhra Pradesh, which has a 25 seats with a representation of 4.60 per cent in the Lok Sabha, the number of seats post delimitation will increase to 38, and its share will increase to about 4.75 per cent.

"In Telangana, there are 17 seats, with a 3.13 per cent share in the current House of 543 members. After a similar increase of around 50 per cent, the number of seats will go up to 26, and its share will rise to about 3.18 per cent," Shah said.

The home minister assured the people of Tamil Nadu that seats or share for their state will also not be lost. He said that the seats in Tamil Nadu will increase from 39 to 59 and share will go up from 7.18 per cent to 7.23 per cent.

In Kerala, the seats in Lok Sabha will go up from 20 to 30, with share being nearly unchanged at 3.67 per cent from the existing 3.68 per cent.

Overall, Shah said the number of Lok Sabha seats in the five southern states will go up from the present 129 to 195 seats while the percentage of power will increase from 23.76 per cent to 23.87 or almost 24 per cent.

Explaining how the total number of seats in the new Lok Sabha is fixed at 816, the home minister said it is exactly 50 per cent more than the current total seats.