New Delhi: The Union government on Thursday (April 16) said in the Lok Sabha that there will be a 50% increase for all states in the Lok Sabha and that there will be no change in the proportions of states through the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, even as the proposed legislation itself makes no mention of such a figure.While introducing the bill, Union minister for law and justice (independent charge) Arjun Ram Meghwal said that seats for all states will increase by 50%. Later, in a brief intervention, Union home minister Amit Shah too said that all states will see an increase by 50% as the upper limit of the strength of the Lok Sabha is sought to be increased to 850.In his remarks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the other hand, did not mention the 50% increase but instead gave his “guarantee” that there will be no injustice to any state, and no change in the proportions of states’ representation in the Lok Sabha.The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the accompanying Delimitation Bill, 2026 and Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, do not mention this uniform 50% figure. Shah simply responded to opposition questions on where the 50% uniform increase is mentioned in the bills by saying that he as “home minister who piloted the bills” is saying so.The three bills were brought to the House on Thursday as a three-day special session of parliament has been called to clear the 2023 Women’s Reservation Act that provided for 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state legislatures. The government has said that the bills are meant to “operationalise” women’s reservation, which in the 2023 Act was tied to delimitation and the next census.The Wire has reported that the constitutional amendment bill along with its accompanying delimitation bill seek to bring in large-scale changes that will not just increase the strength of the Lok Sabha to 850 but result in a significantly altered parliamentary arithmetic and change centre-state relations.What the ministers saidMeghwal in his remarks said that “it will be necessary to uniformly increase the total number of seats by 50% in addition to the current seats in the Lok Sabha” to implement 33% reservation for women.“To effectively implement the reservation of one-third of the seats for women in a uniform and judicially consistent manner across the entire country, it will be necessary to uniformly increase the total number of seats by 50% in addition to the current seats in the Lok Sabha,” he said.“This will mean that the new strength of the House will be 815. Of this 272 seats will be reserved for women, which is one-third of the total 815 seats. This is a simple formula. So this will not result in any loss for anyone, to any male member or state. The strength that they (states) had earlier, it will remain the same,” Meghwal added.Later Shah, in an intervention during the discussion also said that there will be 50% increase and gave figures of increases for southern states based on this.“They asked where the figure of 850 came from. I will explain it. This figure of 850 is derived in the following way: hypothetically, if there are 100 seats and 33% reservation is to be given to women, then increasing the total seats by 50% makes it 150. And when the reservation is applied as 33% of 150, it automatically comes back to 100 seats. So 544 members are here, there will be an increase of 50% and of this when 33% will be reserved for women, then 544 seats will be open for women to contest. 850 is the rounded figure, while 816 is the exact figure,” said Shah.When opposition members questioned where these figures are mentioned in the bills, Shah said that he as the home minister, is saying, as the one who piloted the bill.“They said this is not mentioned in the Bill. Who has said this? I, Amit Shah, home minister of India, is saying, the one who piloted this bill. Where is this in the bill and from where I am drawing the figures I will tell tomorrow (Friday) in my reply. I will explain as simply as to a KG child,” he said.No mention of 50% increase in the billsThere is no such mention of this 50% increase for all states in the bills.The constitutional amendment bill by amending Articles 81 and 82, seeks to provide that Parliament will decide by law when delimitation is to be conducted and which census is to be used, as opposed to the current mandate under which delimitation of seats in Lok Sabha is required to be undertaken after every census and be based on the latest census.Crucially, the bill also removes the freeze imposed in 1976 on the total number of seats for each state in the Lok Sabha, and in state assemblies to be based on 1971 census figures. The proposed bills instead provide for the 2011 census to be used by referring to the ‘latest published census’. The use of the 2011 census has raised concerns, particularly from southern states whose population growth rates have declined to below the replacement rate since 1971, by using population control measures, as against northern states where populations have increased in comparison.The Constitution Amendment Bill further provides that each state will have seats in proportion to its population, implying that all Lok Sabha constituencies across states will have approximately the same population.Further, Section 8 of the Delimitation Bill 2026 requires the Delimitation Commission to allocate seats to the states “on the basis of the latest census figures.” At the same time, Article 81(2)(a) of the Constitution provides that the ratio of population to seats must be the same for all states across the country.Nowhere do the new bills mention a 50% increase equally across all states. That the bills tie the increase in strength of the Lok Sabha to the latest published census, implying the 2011 census, also raises further questions.As The Wire has reported, this is a mathematical impossibility. Since 1971, Uttar Pradesh’s population exploded, while Kerala’s has stabilised. If a flat 50% increase is applied to both for instance, an MP in Uttar Pradesh will represent lakhs more people than an MP in Kerala. That is a direct violation of Article 81, which ensures proportional representation relative to population, ensuring consistent ratios across constituencies.If the Commission instead follows the actual text of the new bill and uses the “latest census” to maintain equal representation ratios, it must allocate the Hindi belt a massive, disproportionate share of the new seats. A flat 50% hike is a mathematical impossibility under the very laws the Home Minister is piloting.Modi steers clear of numbers but says no change in proportionPrime Minister Modi in his remarks however, steered clear of providing any such figures and simply stated that there will be no injustice and no difference in proportional representation of states.“I want to say from this House today with a great sense of responsibility that whether it is the south, the north, the east, the west, small states or big states, this decision making process will not discriminate against any state or do injustice to anyone,” he said.He also said the proportion of Lok Sabha seats in any state will not come down.“There will be no change in that proportion (of Lok Sabha seats) either, and the increase will also be in the same proportion,” he said.Shah too in his remarks said that as a proportion of representation, southern states will see an increase.“The southern states have 129 MPs in the 533-member Lok Sabha, representing 23.76% of its MPs. This will increase to 195 seats in the expanded Lok Sabha, increasing representation to 23.97%. The south’s representation was going up and not down,” he said.