NEW DELHI: Congress President and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a formal letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the Union government to maintain the existing overall and state-wise seat strength of the Lok Sabha for another 25 years. Demanding that the total parliamentary count remain frozen at its current 543 members, Kharge warned against any unilateral attempts to alter the nation’s political representation through a fresh delimitation exercise.
He also called on the government to decouple the implementation of the long-pending 33 percent reservation for women from the boundary commission report, urging its immediate enforcement starting with the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. The intervention follows growing speculation over a potential parliamentary move, after recent remarks by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju hinted at upcoming legislative discussions on delimitation.
Outlining key concerns regarding federal balance, Kharge urged the Prime Minister to convene an all-party consultation before introducing any delimitation-related proposals or legislation in Parliament. He emphasized that preserving the existing seat ratio across states is critical to prevent penalizing southern states that have successfully implemented national family planning and population control policies over the past several decades.
Describing the redrawing of parliamentary boundaries as an issue of “enormous significance for the country,” Kharge cautioned the Centre against trying to “bulldoze” proposals without consensus, as he alleged was attempted during previous legislative sessions. By advocating a quarter-century freeze on seat redistribution, the Congress leadership highlighted the need to safeguard equitable political representation across all regions while facilitating open dialogue among political stakeholders.
