Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress chief, has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, advocating for the maintenance of the Lok Sabha's strength at 543 seats for the subsequent 25 years and requesting an all-party meeting to discuss the proposed delimitation exercise.
On Thursday, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge penned a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to maintain the Lok Sabha's strength at 543 seats for the subsequent 25 years. This demand comes in response to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's proposed delimitation exercise aimed at redrawing electoral constituency boundaries.
In his letter, Kharge also emphasized the need for one-third reservation for women to be implemented from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. He highlighted that after an all-party meeting on the government’s delimitation proposal, all political parties should be given adequate time to study it before it is introduced in any special session of Parliament the government may be considering.
The Congress leader reiterated his request for an all-party meeting on July 16, following Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju's statement in a television interview that a special session of Parliament could be convened. However, no such meeting has been scheduled as of yet.
The BJP-led Union government introduced the 2026 Constitution 131st Amendment Bill in April to amend the 2023 Women’s Reservation Act and redraw the boundaries of electoral constituencies. The bill required a two-thirds majority of votes in Parliament to pass, however, the ruling National Democratic Alliance does not possess such a majority in any House. Consequently, it necessitated the support of Opposition parties to pass the amendment. The consideration of the bill was rejected by the Lok Sabha with 298 MPs voting in its favour and 230 against.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay asked the Union government on August 20 to provide a legislative assurance that any state’s representation in Parliament will not reduce due to the delimitation exercise. This request follows the Tamil Nadu Assembly passing a resolution calling for the Lok Sabha's strength to permanently remain at 543 seats.
Source:
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