The NDA government is mulling with the idea of introducing the Delimitation Bill in the Parliament during the current budget session. If that does not happen, it will call for a small session later to present and pass the bill.
According to the current plan, delimitation will increase the number of seats by nearly 50%, though it would still follow the pro rata basis. Alongside the delimitation bill, the government also intends to introduce the 33% women reservation bill.
The bill proposes an increase of 50% of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from 543. From this, 273 seats will be set aside for women. The majority mark will then move to 409. The strength of the Lok Sabha will increase for the first time in 5 decades while the numbers in Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils will remain the same.
Two bills, one for delimitation and second for Constitution amendment to get two-third majority support in both Houses will be tabled. Though the NDA is not in a position to pass the bills on its own, Home Minister Amit Shah is holding meetings with opposition non NDA, non INDIA Bloc parties for support.
Instead of carrying out delimitation based on 2026 Census, the proposed delimitation law will follow the 2011 Census. The government has assured that the seats will be increased by 50% to address the concerns of Southern states which fear a fall in their representational strength. The seats reserved for SCs and STs will also go up. For SCs, the numbers will go up from 84 to 126, while the ST seats will go up from 47 to 70.
As for the Telugu states, Andhra Pradesh will see an increase from 175 to 263 Assembly seats. Lok Sabha seats will increase from 25 to 38.
Coming to Telangana, Assembly seats will increase from 119 to 179. In the Lok Sabha, the seats will increase from 17 to 26.
The southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu want delimitation based on nation’s GDP, success in family planning or the Human Development Index (HDI). They say population based delimitation will impact their say in national policy making and resource allocation.
It remains to be seen how the story shapes up before the session ends on April 4.
BREAKING: Centre plans to increase Lok Sabha and Assembly seats by 50%.
AP:
Assembly 175 → 263
Lok Sabha 25 → 38Telangana:
Assembly 119 → 179
Lok Sabha 17 → 26Lok Sabha: 543 → 816
Assemblies: 4,123 → 6,185Bills likely in this Parliament session. If cleared, new… pic.twitter.com/TNnwFGiAQX
— M9 NEWS (@M9News_) March 24, 2026
