The Lok Sabha, with 543 seats, abides by the Indian Constitution's Article 79, ensuring representation for elected officials, SC, ST, and the Anglo-Indian Community. Future delimitation post-2026 will likely adjust seat distribution.
The Lok Sabha is composed of representatives of people chosen by direct election based on Universal Adult Suffrage. As per the provision of Article 79 of the Indian Constitution, the House of the People, Lok Sabha is the lower House of the parliament .
The Indian Constitution provides for a maximum of 550 members in the House, of which 20 represent the Union Territories and 530 represent the States.
Technically, the Lok Sabha currently has 543 which are held by elected officials. Out of the elective seats, 79 are reserved for SC and 41 for ST.
If the Lok Sabha is not dissolved, its term will expire after five years from the date of its inaugural session. However, while a proclamation of emergency is in effect, Parliament may, by law, prolong this time for a maximum of one year at a time, and in no event for longer than six months following the proclamation's cessation of operation.
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How Lok Sabha members are elected?
In India, the Lok Sabha members are selected through first-past-the-post ( FPTP ) system, which is also known as the simple majority system. In this voting method, the candidate with the highest number of votes in a constituency is declared the winner. This system is also used in direct elections to the State Legislative Assemblies.
In India, each state is divided into Constituencies and each constituency is represented by an MP. Indians vote for the candidates (representing different parties) in their respective constituencies and the party that wins a majority of the constituencies of Lok Sabha wins an election and forms the government
Why Lok Sabha still has only 543 seats?
In the past few years, many new states were formed and even the Union Territories but still the Lok Sabha has only 543 seats but even after the new changes why the number remains the same? The answer is Article 81. According to the Article 81, the composition of the House shall not consist of more than 550 elected members of whom not more than 20 will represent Union Territories.
The Article also states, "there shall be allotted to each State a number of seats in the House of the People in such manner that the ratio between that number and the population of the state is, so far as practicable, the same for all States."
Lok Sabha strength was not always the same. When was it changed?
Originally, the Article 81 stated that the Lok Sabha should not have more than 500 seats and this is the reason that in 1952, when the first House was constituted then it had 497. Since the Constitution stated that there shall be allotted to each State a number of seats in the House of the People in such manner that the ratio between that number and the population of the state is, so far as practicable, the same for all States, the lower House’s composition (total seats as well as readjustment of seats allocated to different states) has also changed with each population survey up to 1971.
A temporary freeze was imposed in 1976 on ‘Delimitation’ until 2001. Delimitation is the process of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and state Assembly seats to represent changes in the population.
From 497 the Lok Sabha seats extended till 545 including representatives of the Anglo-Indian Community. First change was done in 1956, when some more new states were carved States like Jammu and Kashmir, Junagarh and Hyderabad joined India and after that the country was divided the country into 14 states and six Union Territories. This meant subsequent changes in the boundaries of existing states and hence, a change in the allocation of seats to the states and Union Territories. So with reorganisation, the government also amended the Constitution by which the maximum number of seats allocated to the states remained 500, but an additional 20 seats (also maximum limit) were added to represent the six Union Territories. So the second Lok Sabha elected in 1957 had 503 members.
The constituency numbers will remain same till 2026 after the 91st amendment to the constitution. The 91st amendment extends the 25-year-old freeze on the total number and state-wise distribution of seats in the Lok Sabha. The decision comes while allowing for a new delimitation commission to adjust the geographical boundary of each seat within the frozen totals.
What will happen to Lok Sabha seats after 2026 delimitation ?
Definitely, after the 2026 delimitation there is high probability that the number of Lok Sabha seats will increase as per the Article 81. A temporary freeze was imposed in 1976 on ‘Delimitation’ till the year 2026. Till 2026, it is following 1971 census.
Delimitation means the process of fixing the number of seats and boundaries of territorial constituencies in each State for the Lok Sabha and Legislative assemblies. It also includes determining the seats to be reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in these houses.
After the 1971 census, the Lok Sabha seats remained the same despite the formation of many new states and union territories but since 1971, the population has rapidly increased and so the number of states. So, the Lok Sabha seats will be re-adjusted based on the first Census after 2026.
