Fixing number of seats not job of govt, it’s of Delimitation Commission: Manish Tewari

Congress MP Manish Tewari on Friday said that the responsibility of fixing the number of parliamentary seats lies not with the government but with the Delimitation Commission, amid an ongoing political debate over the proposed delimitation exercise and women’s reservation framework.

His remarks came a day after Union Home minister Amit Shah sought to allay concerns that delimitation could reduce representation for southern states in the Lok Sabha. Shah had cited an example of Karnataka, saying its seats could rise from 28 to 42 after the exercise.

Responding to these claims, Tewari told IANS: “First of all, it is not the job of the government to fix the number of seats. That has to be done by the Delimitation Commission. The government can only specify an upper and a lower ceiling.”

He added that under the proposed 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill, the upper ceiling has been set at 850 seats, and that actual allocation would depend on the commission’s calculations based on population data. “It is now for the Delimitation Commission to decide… how many seats will go to each state. What the Home minister is saying is nowhere in the bill,” he said.

Tewari further alleged that the government was “being economical with the truth” on the issue, arguing that the core principle of “one person, one vote, one value” under Article 82(1A) would inevitably shift representation in favour of states with higher population growth.

“The challenge is how to uphold the mandate of Article 82(1A) while balancing federal aspirations,” he said, warning that states with successful population control measures could end up losing representation.

He also criticised the government’s intent, saying: “Either the government does not understand this or does not want to understand it for certain motives.”

Tewari further alleged that the delimitation exercise was being politically timed and linked it to the implementation of the women’s reservation law. “They have already passed the Women’s Reservation Bill in 2023 and are notifying it 30 months later… The sequence suggests women’s reservation will be implemented alongside delimitation,” he said, adding that this was the reason for Opposition concerns.

With IANS inputs