Parliament representation back in news after HC order

The Madras High Court’s plain speaking on the issue of political representation in Parliament has once again brought to the fore a vexed issue which successive governments have shied away from tackling.

The High Court — in a politically significant order dated Aug 17 and made public on Aug 21 — observed that the political representation of southern states, especially Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, was reduced in the Lok Sabha since 1967 after both the states “successfully implemented” birth control measures.

On the other hand, northern states that “failed” in controlling population were “benefited” with more political representation in Parliament, the court noted.

The HC added that the number of LS seats should be frozen at the existing numbers, or it should be enhanced to the original level — 41 seats in Tamil Nadu as it was in 1962 (From 41, TN’s number came down to 39 in 1967).

“Population control cannot be a factor to decide the number of political representatives of the states in Parliament. Those states which failed to implement the birth control programmes were benefited with more political representatives,” the bench said.

The order assumes significance as it comes amid speculation that the delimitation exercise could witness an increase in the number of seats in northern states.

Reacting to the news, Congress leader Karti P Chidambaram said the idea was “unacceptable”. “Reduction of parliamentary seats for Tamil Nadu and increasing seats for other states based on population increase is totally unacceptable,” he said.

The issue is a political hot potato and has eluded solution.

Constitution’s Article 81 stipulates each state will get seats in proportion to its population, while Article 82 provisions the reallocation of Lok Sabha seats for states as per their updated population figure after every census.

Former prime minister late Indira Gandhi had brought in a constitutional amendment in 1976 to freeze reallocation of seats till 2001 to ensure that states, which effectively took population control measures, do not face pruning of their representation for doing the right thing.

The NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee brought in the 84th amendment to the Constitution delaying the reallocation after 2026.

If the reallocation is done as per the 2011 census figures, the status of representation of many states in Lok Sabha will drastically change giving North Indian states an edge. UP, which currently has 80 seats, could see its numbers go up to 88 on the basis of the 2011 census. Bihar could see its numbers in the Lok Sabha rise from 40 to 46 by
2031.

Other states which will benefit include Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Delhi and Chhattisgarh. Odisha and West Bengal could actually lose three and two seats respectively while Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand may lose one each. Karnataka could lose one, with its number coming down to 27 from the current 28.

While both sides have their own arguments, southern states are asking why they should bear the brunt for doing the right thing on population control. The argument on the other side is democracy is after all about people more than geography, and so why shouldn’t there be more representatives for states with bigger populations.

In 2020, former President late Pranab Mukherjee had made a strong pitch for increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha from existing 543 to 1,000 to accommodate the need for representation of enhanced population in states.

And in July this year, Congress MP Manish Tewari claimed he had reliable information that the BJP is planning to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha to 1,000 before the 2024 general elections.