THE REPORTED DECISION to summon Parliament from April 16 to 18, 2026, has sparked intense debate on the manner of implementation of a historic and three-decade-old bipartisan demand for women's reservation in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies to promote diversity and inclusivity in representative democracy. However, this bipartisan policy reservation of one-third seats for women in Parliament, formalised by the Constitution (Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023 under Article 330A, is linked to the extremely controversial delimitation exercise under Article 334A of the Constitution of India.
This linking of women’s reservation demand to the delimitation exercise has sparked concerns about the possible changes to the size of the Lok Sabha and allocation of seats among States. A shifting of power dynamics between northern States and southern and eastern States if the number of seats increases from 543 to 816 has been a matter of serious federal concern. South Indians especially feel penalized for slower population growth in the states. A clear understanding of the constitutional position is necessary to clear the fog around historic bipartisan steps taken by the Parliament for the reservations for women.
Constitutional landscape
On the bipartisan demand of reservation of one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, Articles 330A and 334A were inserted in the Constitution by the 106th Amendment Act. However, its implementation has been deferred until the delimitation exercise, based on publication of the first census taken after the commencement of the Amendment Act. There is no clarity on the commencement of the Amendment Act.
The allocation of seats and revision of territorial constituencies shall be carried out by an independent constitutional authority known as the Delimitation Commission, established by Parliament under Article 82 of the Constitution. The delimitation exercise determines the number of “territorial constituencies” in the Lok Sabha and their distribution. It is critical for defining the voice of the people in a democracy. The Constitution addresses the number of “territorial constituencies” in the Lok Sabha and dictates its allocation among the States based on their population.
However, the Constitution does not dictate that the size of the Lok Sabha represented by “territorial constituencies” shall be revised periodically. But, about allocation of seats to the States out of total territorial constituencies, the Constitution mandates periodic revision linked to the census.
Article 81(1) has frozen the total membership of the Lok Sabha at an upper limit of 550 since 1987. It consists of 530 members chosen from the States and twenty members chosen from Union territories by direct election as mandated by the Parliament by law. The size of the Lok Sabha was initially fixed at 500 when the Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949, but it was marginally expanded from time to time depending on exigencies. At present, in the 18th Lok Sabha, it is 530 from the States and thirteen from the Union Territories, totalling 543 as against the upper limit of 550 seats.
The allocation of seats to the States and identification of territorial constituencies are mandated by sub clauses (a) and (b), respectively, of Article 81(2). Unlike the total size of the Lok Sabha, the internal allocation of seats to the States and territorial constituencies is linked to the “population” of the last preceding census by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956. However, by the Constitution (Eighty Fourth Amendment) Act, 2001, the census of 1971 and 2001 was prescribed for the allocation of seats and revision of territorial constituencies respectively, with an important directive that it holds good until the figures for the first census “after” the year 2026 are published.
What options does the Parliament have?
There are three options before the Parliament on the implementation of Article 330A, read with Article 334A inserted in the Constitution by the 106th Amendment Act, which mandates the reservation of one-third seats for women in the Parliament.
The first option is to amend Article 81(1) and increase the number of territorial constituencies to whatever number it comes up to, without compromising federalism and the balance of power among states within the grand Union of India. The second option is to allocate seats to states based on a delimitation exercise conducted on the census data collated after 2026, but within the upper limit of 550 seats frozen under Art 81(1). This doesn’t require a constitutional amendment. The third option is to increase the total number of seats of the Lok Sabha proportionately among the states by amending Article 81(1) of the Constitution.
Currently, the Lok Sabha has a strength of 543, though the upper limit is 550. If the size of the Lok Sabha is expanded to 816 (from the present strength of 543, although the upper limit is 550), as widely discussed in the media based on the census of 2011, northern states are likely to gain about 113 seats, while southern and eastern states would gain about 66 and 32 seats respectively. This would prejudicially affect federal interests and the balance of power, even though the proportional representation of southern and eastern states would not materially change.
Is a large and unwieldy Lok Sabha in the interest of democracy? Probably no. A burden on the public exchequer? Surely. The expenditure on each Member of Parliament of the Lok Sabha, including indirect expenses, is about Rs. 2 crore. Adding 273 more Lok Sabha members is an additional burden of 546 crores. This expansion will have a cascading effect to increase the State Assembly strength based on the 2011 census. The present number of Members of State Assemblies, or MLAs, may increase from about 4,130 to 6,200. This approach incentivises the failure to control the population boom. It is also constitutionally suspect if tested on the anvil of the basic structure doctrine. As Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah notes, it is also politically discriminatory. “Five southern states together gain barely 63-66 additional seats, while just these seven BJP-dominated states gain about 128-131 seats – nearly double,” he noted. The public is generally uncomfortable with unwieldy Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, irrespective of their political affiliation. A strong case can be made for the non-expansion of Lok Sabha to 816 seats, and consequently State Assemblies, based on the 2011 census.
The second option is a straightforward option of reserving one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha without changing the upper limit, but it’s probably the most difficult. In the present Lok Sabha, without a constitutionally-mandated women’s reservation, there are only 78 women members. To increase this to 181, which is one-third of the present strength of 543 seats, means 103 seats held by men have to be vacated.This is politically difficult, even though not impossible.
The third option is proportionally increasing the seats of all States in the Lok Sabha, a middle course of action. As already discussed, the total number of territorial constituencies under Article 81(1), presently frozen with an upper limit of 550, is not linked to the “population”. The Constitution rightly leaves it to the political wisdom of the Parliament when it decides to amend the Constitution by following the procedure under Article 368. If Parliament is free to devise a formula for the expansion of Lok Sabha, then the total strength of the Lok Sabha can also be increased by twenty three percent in each state proportionally. This is can be done by amending Article 81(1)., The total strength of the Lok Sabha will expand by 101 seats to 652 without prejudicially affecting the interests of the southern and eastern states, since southern representation will continue to remain at about twenty percent and the combined strength of the south and eastern part of India at about thirty-five percent. Without reservation, women members will have 217 seats, expanding from the present strength of 78 members by 142. In this case, only 38 seats currently held by men will have to be vacated in the next Lok Sabha general election.
In this light, the coming session of the Parliament from April 16 to 18, 2026, is expected to equitably resolve the issue, and enforce the historic bipartisan decision of reservation of one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha of Parliament and State Assemblies.
