Lok Sabha strength should remain 543 for 25 years, Mallikarjun Kharge tells PM Modi

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanded that the existing strength of the Lok Sabha remain at 543 seats for the next 25 years and sought an all-party meeting to discuss the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s proposed delimitation exercise.

The process of fixing the boundaries of electoral constituencies is called delimitation.

Kharge also said that one-third reservation for women should be implemented from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress leader said that after the meeting on the government’s delimitation proposal, all political parties should be given adequate time to study it before it is introduced in any special session of Parliament the government may be considering.

He added that the delimitation proposal was a matter of “enormous significance” for the country and urged the government not to “bulldoze” it through again, as it had attempted to do on April 16 and 17.

During a three-day special session of Parliament in April, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government introduced the 2026 Constitution 131st Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the 2023 Women’s Reservation Act and redraw the boundaries of electoral constituencies.

The bill, one of the three draft legislations that were introduced, required a two-thirds majority of votes in Parliament to pass. The ruling National Democratic...

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