New Delhi, Apr 16: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday sought to allay concerns over the proposed delimitation exercise, asserting that the number of parliamentary seats in southern states will not be reduced even as the Centre moves to significantly expand the Lok Sabha.
Addressing concerns surrounding the ongoing delimitation process, Shah said the exercise would be carried out strictly in accordance with existing legal provisions. “The Delimitation Commission law is strictly in accordance with the existing (old) law. There is no change. It will not impact the ongoing elections,” he said.
Shah said that the proposed expansion of the Lok Sabha from the current 543 seats to 816 represents a nearly 50 percent increase, aimed at better representation of the population without disadvantaging any region.
“The number of seats in the southern states will not be reduced,” Shah said, amid apprehensions from several states over a possible shift in political balance.
He said that a “completely false” narrative was being spread that the representation of southern states would go down in the Lok Sabha after its strength is increased to 816 seats following the implementation of women’s reservation and delimitation of constituencies. Intervening in the debate in Lok Sabha on the three bills introduced for amendment of the women’s quota law and to set up a delimitation commission, Shah said the fact is that the number of seats will go up and power will grow.
He 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 percent.
“Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka will increase to 42 from the present 28; in Andhra Pradesh, the number of Lok Sabha sets will increase to 38 from 25; in Telangana, it will be 26 from present 17; in Tamil Nadu, the number of Lok Sabha seats will go up to 59 from the present 39; and in Kerala, it will be 30 seats from the present 20,” he said.
Shah strongly rejected the opposition suggestion that the government will indulge in some kind of “mischief” during the delimitation exercise, saying the NDA government has not made any changes in the existing law.
“The delimitation bill is exactly like the previous law brought by your government. There is no change, not even a comma or a full stop,” he said.
Explaining how the total number of seats in the new Lok Sabha is fixed at 816, the Home Minister said it is exactly 50 percent more than the current total seats.
On the issue of caste enumeration, the Home Minister said that the government had already taken a decision to conduct a caste census as part of the ongoing population census exercise.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabinet has decided to conduct a caste census. The ongoing census is being conducted on the basis of caste enumeration. There is no need to spread confusion,” he said.
Shah said on that Muslims will not be given reservation on the basis of religion as such a quota would be unconstitutional.
“The question of providing reservation to Muslim women on the basis of religion does not even arise. Our Constitution does not allow at all to give reservation on the basis of religion. I want to make it clear our government’s resolve that Muslims will not be given reservation on the basis of religion. Such reservation is unconstitutional,” he said after the Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav spoke in favour of giving a quota to Muslims.
The Home Minister said the Samajwadi Party members were saying that they would place the demand for a caste census but he would like to inform them that the government had already taken a decision to carry out the caste census and it would be carried out along with the population enumeration.
“Right now, the counting of households is underway and the households do not have any caste. If the Samajwadi Party had its way, they would determine the caste of households as well,” he said.
Shah also said “if the Samajwadi Party gives all its tickets to Muslim women, where do we have any objection, we have no objections at all”.
He said that during the population enumeration, the census authorities would keep a provision for caste enumeration, “which I personally want too”.
“I want to make it clear that this census will be conducted along with caste enumeration,” the Home Minister said.
Shah’s remarks come at a time when the Centre’s proposed delimitation plan and census-related announcements have triggered widespread political debate, particularly over representation, federal balance, and data transparency.
The government has maintained that both exercises are aimed at strengthening democratic representation and ensuring equitable policy planning based on updated demographic data. (With PTI inputs)
