Revamp functioning of Parliament, Pg7

Key Highlights:

• The proposed Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill and Delimitation Bill, 2026 aimed to increase Lok Sabha seats from 550 to 850 members.
• India's electoral roll in 2024 comprised 97.98 crore voters across 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, averaging 18 lakh voters per MP.
• Significant disparities exist, such as Malkajgiri constituency with 37.8 lakh voters and Lakshadweep with 57,953 voters.
• The 17th Lok Sabha's Question Hour functioned for only 60% of its scheduled time, and the 2026 Monsoon Session saw only 1% functionality.
• The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 was ultimately not passed by the Lok Sabha, failing to secure the required two-thirds majority.

Detailed Insights:

• Parliamentary representation involves both voter access to their Member of Parliament and the MP's ability to raise issues on the floor of the House.
• Merely increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats without enhancing the functional capacity of Parliament will limit representatives' ability to voice constituents' concerns.
• Adding more members without increasing the operational timetable would exacerbate the existing problem of insufficient floor time for legislative business.
• Current Lok Sabha rules allow for a maximum of 20 starred and 230 unstarred questions daily, but only a small fraction are selected.
• Increasing the number of MPs to 850 would further reduce an individual MP's chance of receiving an oral answer from a Minister.
• Article 85(1) of the Constitution mandates that not more than six months shall intervene between two parliamentary sessions.
• The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution recommended that the Lok Sabha meet for a minimum of 120 days per year.
• Parliamentary instruments like Zero Hour and Question Hour require protected status with mandatory allocated time to ensure their effectiveness.
• The Delimitation Bill, 2026 proposed using the 2011 Census data for redrawing constituencies and aimed to facilitate early implementation of women's reservation.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Delimitation: The process of redrawing boundaries of electoral constituencies to ensure equal representation based on population.
• Question Hour: The first hour of a parliamentary sitting where Members of Parliament ask questions to ministers, who are expected to respond.
• Zero Hour: An informal parliamentary device allowing Members of Parliament to raise matters of urgent public importance without prior notice.
• Private Member's Business: Time allotted in Parliament for bills and resolutions introduced by individual Members of Parliament who are not ministers.