No more new Lok Sabha, assembly constituencies till 2026 — Govt

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 31: The Union Cabinet today decided to freeze the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies till the year 20...

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 31: The Union Cabinet today decided to freeze the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies till the year 2026. A bill to this effect, which means that there’ll no fresh delimitation of constituencies in the first quarter of this century, will be introduced in the winter session of Parliament.

The proposal to freeze the strength of the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies was contained in the new Population Policy announced by the Vajpayee Government in February this year. However, it is only today that the Cabinet decided to approve the bill amending the Constitution in this regard. Once the bill is passed, the number of Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies in the country would remain unchanged till the year 2026.

Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley, who briefed the media about the outcome of the Cabinet meeting, however, said there would be a readjustment and rationalisation of constituencies in order to make them equal in size on the basis of the 1991 census.

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He also said that the number of seats reserved for SCs/STs in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies would be readjusted on the basis of their population as adumbrated in the 1991 census.

Explaining the point further, Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said there had been an increase in the population of SCs/STs between 1971 and 1991. “The number of seats earmarked for them may go up marginally within the overall strength of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies,” he said.

The last delimitation exercise, Jaitley pointed out, was completed in 1976 on the basis of the 1971 census.

The exercises of the readjustment and rationalisation of constituencies as also refixing the number of seats reserved for SCs/STs would be entrusted to the delimitation commission, which would be formed by a suitable legislation after the constitution amendment bill was passed by Parliament.

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