Responding to concerns of opposition parties, especially from southern states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it was his “guarantee” that an increase in Lok Sabha seats would not change existing proportions.

“The proportion of seats will not change; the increase will be in the same proportion. If you want a guarantee or a promise, I will say so. If there is some good word in Tamil, I will use it. When the intention is good, we do not need to play with words,” PM Modi said while participating in the debate on three bills tabled in the ongoing special session of Parliament.

Early on Thursday, Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and Amit Shah tabled three bills – the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Delimitation Bill, 2026, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026. 

Tabled during the ongoing three-day special session, the legislative package centres on providing 33 percent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies. In addition, the constitution bill makes way for an increase in Lok Sabha seats from existing 543 to 815 members from the states and up to 35 from union territories.  

Southern states, however, have raised concerns saying that they will lose out if Lok Sabha seats are increased on the basis of population calculated in the 2011 census.

Among those who sought to clarify the government’s position and assuage these concerns was Home Minister Amit Shah. “Canards are being spread that these three bills… will reduce the strength of southern states and that it will harm them to a great extent,” he said in Lok Sabha.

He explained how the strength of southern states would not change after the uniform 50 percent increase in seats in south India. “In the house of 543, Karnataka has 28 seats… 5.15 percent MPs from Karnataka come here. After the bills are passed, Karnataka’s number would go up from 28 to 42 and their percentage would be 5.14 percent. So there would be no harm,” he said.

He shared similar figures pointing to negligible change in the share of other states such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Kerala. “Overall, there are 129 MPs from southern states. Around 23.76 percent is the share of southern MPs in the house. After the 50 percent increase… there will be 195 MPs and their strength will be 23.97 percent. So their strength is increasing, not reducing.”

Congress MP and general secretary KC Venugopal had asked the government how the uniform increase of 50 percent was arrived at. Shah said he would reveal this tomorrow.

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi had asked how the government arrived at the revised strength of 815 for states and 35 for union territories. Shah clarified with an example: If a house's existing strength is 100 and it introduces 33 percent women's reservation, the total rises to 133. The government is increasing seats by 50 percent because 33 percent of 150 equals exactly 50 – ensuring the reservation doesn't displace any existing members.

Tejasvi Surya, BJP MP from Bengaluru South, said that a uniform 50 percent increase for all states would not tilt the balance of power to northern states.

He said that if one were to increase Lok Sabha seats on the basis of the 2011 or upcoming 2027 census, southern states’ representation share would decrease. “If delimitation is to be conducted on the basis of the 2011 census. Tamil Nadu will have 49 seats. What the Modi government has done is give 10 seats more to Tamil Nadu.” Similarly, he said, Kerala and Karnataka will have fewer seats if the 2011 census is taken into account.

“None of these permutations and combinations is going to give the southern states as best a deal as what the Narendra Modi government has now given by this 50% proportionate increase in the seats formula,” Surya said.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin had warned the Modi government against bulldozing “through a Constitutional amendment” and said his state would protest if the “political power of northern states” goes up disproportionately. His Telangana counterpart Revanth Reddy pushed for “broad-based consultations and consensus building”.

In an interview with the Economic Times, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu expressed his complete support for the three Bills and stated that the number of seats should be delinked from the census. "You have to delink population and seats... Now the number of seats is doubled. I am 100% satisfied. This is the only way. They have finalised the right formula at this stage in a scientific manner,” he told ET.

However, political activist Yogendra Yadav said there was no mention of proportionate increase in seats in the Delimitation Bill. Clause 9 of the Delimitation Bill says that the seats will be distributed on the basis of the “latest census figures”.

Clause 9 stated: “The (Delimitation) Commission shall, in the manner herein provided, distribute the seats in the House of the People allocated to each State and Union territory and the seats assigned to the Legislative Assembly of each State to single-member territorial constituencies and delimit them on the basis of the latest census figures…”

Yadav also said the Modi government may amend the delimitation bill for “proportionate increase” with a caveat.

“So the PM repeats the assurance that increase in seats will be “proportionate” without specifying any provision in the proposed bills that achieves it. So the game is clear: govt might concede proportionate increase this time by amending the Delimitation bill that has been tabled, but will not incorporate it in the Constitution Amendment. Net result: the existing Constitutional guarantee would be taken away, though temporary concession would be made. Any future government would be able to change it with a simple majority,” he tweeted.

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