Centre has to align what it says on delimitation with what is written in the Bill, Pg13

Key Highlights:

• The Centre introduced the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the Delimitation Bill, 2026 in April 2026.
• These bills proposed to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha to a maximum of 850 seats and base seat allocation on the 2011 Census.
• They also aimed to implement one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha immediately.
• The proposed changes conflicted with the government's verbal assurances of maintaining the existing proportional representation of states.
• The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 was defeated in the Lok Sabha as it failed to secure the required two-thirds majority.

Detailed Insights:

• Articles 81 and 82 of the Indian Constitution govern the allocation of Lok Sabha seats to states and the process of delimitation.
• The existing allocation of Lok Sabha seats among states is frozen based on the 1971 Census, a freeze extended until the first Census after 2026 by the 42nd Amendment (1976) and 84th Amendment (2001).
• Delimitation of individual constituencies within states is currently based on the 2001 Census.
• The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, also known as the Women's Reservation Bill, links the implementation of women's reservation to the first delimitation exercise after the next Census.
• The defeated bills sought to remove the existing freeze and tie both inter-state allocation and intra-state delimitation to the "latest Census" (2011).
• To reconcile the government's promise of maintaining state-wise proportional representation with a fresh delimitation, the freeze on inter-state allocation could be extended (e.g., until after 2051) while updating intra-state delimitation to the 2011 Census.
• The defeat of the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill means that the implementation of women's reservation and a comprehensive delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census are currently delayed.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Delimitation: The process of redrawing boundaries of electoral constituencies to ensure equal population representation.
• Lok Sabha: The lower house of India's Parliament, whose members are directly elected by the people.
• Constitutional Amendment: A formal change or addition to the text of the Constitution of India.
• Census: An official enumeration of the population, typically conducted periodically to gather demographic and other data.