Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday suggested that Lok Sabha proceedings be paused for an hour so he could bring an official amendment that there would be a 50% increase in the number of seats per state after delimitation.“If the reason to oppose this bill is that there should be 50% reservation, then halt the proceedings for an hour and I will bring an official amendment to this bill. But first, they (the opposition) need to promise to pass the bill,” Shah said.He added, “Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala — the strength of these five states in the 543 parliamentary seats is currently 129, which is 23.76%. After a 50% increase, when we allocate seats for these five states, it will rise from 129 to 195, which will represent 23.87% in 816 seats. No one will be at a loss.”However, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav rejected Shah’s offer, citing what he described as the ruling BJP’s “record” since coming to power in 2014.“Based on nearly 11 years of experience, even if the BJP were to give a written assurance that they would appoint a woman prime minister, we still would not trust them,” Yadav added.Opposition parties have called delimitation a “dangerous” move, arguing that increasing the Lok Sabha strength from 543 to around 850 could reduce the relative representation of southern, north-western, north-eastern and other smaller states.They say this is because seat allocation based on population growth would likely benefit more populous states, while states that have controlled population growth could lose political weight in Parliament.The opposition has also linked the issue to women’s reservation, demanding that the government implement the 33% quota immediately based on the current strength of 543 seats, in line with Article 334A passed in 2023.They argue that since the provision says the quota will come into effect after delimitation based on the 2027 Census, the exercise could be completed earlier using fresh census data before the 2029 general elections. They have also criticised the government’s reliance on the older 2011 Census for the process.
