Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday announced that the number of Lok Sabha seats across all states will rise by 50 percent following a fresh delimitation exercise. The statement came as Parliament reconvened for a three-day special session to consider legislation aimed at expanding the strength of the lower House and implementing the 33 percent reservation for women. He stated that the total strength of the Lok Sabha would increase from the current 543 to 815 seats after the proposed expansion.
A set of key bills, including the Delimitation Bill 2026, the Constitution One Hundred and Thirty-first Amendment Bill 2026, and the Union Territories Laws Amendment Bill 2026, have been introduced to facilitate this change. These bills propose increasing the number of seats and carrying out delimitation using the most recent available data, effectively based on the 2011 Census, in order to implement the women’s quota starting from the 2029 general elections.
Meghwal described the plan as a straightforward formula, stating that all states would see a 50 percent increase in seats, with 272 of the total seats reserved for women, ensuring that no state is left at a disadvantage.
However, the proposal has drawn criticism from the Opposition. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi argued that both delimitation and women’s reservation should be linked to the ongoing census and should account for caste-based enumeration. Opposition leaders have also raised concerns that relying on the 2011 Census could disadvantage southern states, while the government has insisted that the increase in seats will be carried out in a proportional manner.
