'Southern states will be stifled': Opposition unites in flagging concerns on delimitation

Chidambaram claimed that the voice of southern states will be “suppressed and stifled” while demanding that the bill be “opposed unanimously and defeated”.

New Delhi: Concerns have been raised by the Opposition over the Bill to amend the Constitution to increase Lok Sabha seats to 850 seats for rolling out 33 per cent women’s quota, as it does not propose any change in the existing provision of considering population as base for delimitation.

This, the opposition claims, is detrimental to the interests of southern states, which have done well in controlling population, as well as states like Punjab, Haryana and north-eastern states compared to bigger states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which will gain more seats and in proportion.

The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 does not propose an amendment to Article 81(2)(a), which mandates that the Lok Sabha seats shall be allotted to each state “in such a manner that the ratio between that number and population of the state is, so far as practicable, the same for all states”.

The government had earlier indicated to parties with which it had consultations that the number of seats in Lok Sabha would be increased by 50 per cent for all states though this was also objected to by parties like the Congress, DMK, CPI(M) and AAP.

If one takes the 2011 Census as the base, UP’s seats is likely rise from 80 to 140 (14.7 per cent in present Lok Sabha to 16.7 per cent), Bihar 40 to 73 (7.4 per cent to 8.6 per cent), Rajasthan 25 to 48 (4.6 per cent to 5.6 per cent), Madhya Pradesh 29 to 51 (5.3 per cent to 6 per cent) and Maharashtra 48 to 79 (8.8 per cent to 9.3 per cent).

South Indian states and those like Odisha and West Bengal may witness some increase but the proportion will decrease. Karnataka may see an increase from 28 to 42 (decrease from 5.5 per cent to 4.94 per cent), Tamil Nadu 39 to 51 (7.2 per cent to 6 per cent), Kerala 20 to 23 (3.7 per cent to 2.7 per cent) and West Bengal 42 to 64 (7.7 per cent to 7.5 per cent).

The proportion of seats will increase for the north from 22.1 per cent to 25.1 per cent while it will see a decrease for the south from 20.1 per cent to 18 per cent.

Congress Rajya Sabha Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Bill contradicts all the “so-called assurances” that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been giving, as states in the south, north-west and east will lose their strength in Lok Sabha.

“What happened to the uniform proportionate increase of strength…for all states - that was promised by the PM and some of his colleagues?...The PM’s assurances cannot be trusted. He is unable to rise beyond his crude power-grabbing impulses and be a statesman – even on an issue as sensitive as delimitation,” he said.

Senior Congress MP P Chidambaram claimed that the voice of the southern states will be “suppressed and stifled” while demanding that the Bill be “opposed unanimously and defeated”.

“Tamil Nadu's current representation in the Lok Sabha is 39. They said it would rise to 58. I said this is nothing but an illusion. When delimitation is carried out, that 58 will drop to 46. At the same time, Uttar Pradesh's current number is 80…after delimitation, it will rise further to about 140. The current representation of the five southern states, which have stabilized their population, is 24.3 per cent. This will decrease to 20.7 per cent,” he posted on 'X'.

RJD’s Manoj K Jha said, “it is an attempt at ‘Balkanisation’...Nothing more and nothing less.” Samajwadi Party’s Ramgopal Yadav said, “Now the whole country knows that the BJP's intent is to cling to power by any means necessary—by using delimitation to create handpicked constituencies of their choosing. The opposition will not tolerate such gerrymandering.”