NEW DELHI, APRIL 15: A legislative push to accelerate women’s representation in Parliament is scheduled for April 16, as the government pilots a series of bills to restructure the Lok Sabha. The primary objective of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill is to ensure the 33 percent reservation for women is operational by the 2029 General Election. To achieve this, the government proposes increasing the total number of MPs to 850.
The proposed changes would replace the current reliance on the 1971 Census with data from the 2011 Census. This shift requires amending Article 55 and Article 81 of the Constitution to redefine “population” and adjust the maximum number of seats allowed in the House of the People. The new structure would provide for 815 elected members from states and 35 from Union Territories.
Accompanying the main amendment is the Delimitation Bill, 2026, which would establish a commission to redraw state assembly and Lok Sabha boundaries. A third piece of legislation, the Union Territories Laws Amendment Bill, 2026, aims to align the governance of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and other territories with the new constitutional framework.
The government affirmed that the 33 percent reservation for women would include specific provisions for women from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The reservation is slated to last for 15 years, pending a future parliamentary review.
However, some lawmakers have expressed reservations about the mathematical outcomes of the 2011 Census application. Calculations based on a population of 1.2 billion suggest that each constituency would represent approximately 14 lakh people.
“Kerala will see an addition of just three Lok Sabha seats when you divide its 2011 population with 14 lakh,” Tewari declared. He stated that while Punjab might gain six seats, Uttar Pradesh could see its representation rise from 80 to nearly 142 seats. Tewari affirmed that there appears to be no proposal for a pro rata increase in seats to maintain the current balance among various states.
