Delimitation Bill, 2026 on agenda today; here's what changes in Parliament, state assemblies

The Centre on Thursday will table The Delimitation Bill, 2026, proposing to increase Lok Sabha and assembly seats by 50 per cent in the Parliament. The bill has been shared with MPs along with ‘The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026’ and ‘The Union Territories Laws (Amendment Bill), 2026’ with an aim to operationalise women's reservation law by the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. 

Several provisions of the new bill are similar to the 2002 law, which would be repealed. The move has led to significant political uproar, with some Southern states raising concerns over representation. 

What is delimitation? 

Delimitation is a nationwide exercise to redraw boundaries of voting areas (Lok Sabha or assembly seats) to match population changes and ensure fair representation. It is done by a commission after a census, and the orders cannot be challenged in court. 

Key provisions of the Bill

• Increasing Lok Sabha seats: The Delimitation Bill proposes to increase the total number of Lok Sabha seats from the current 543 to 850. This includes 815 seats for states and 35 for Union Territories. 
• De-linking from the decadal census: The bill seeks to remove the wait for the first census after 2026 and allows for delimitation based on the latest published census, i.e., the 2011 census. 
• Elections in Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir: The bill authorises the Election Commission to conduct delimitation and elections in PoJK constituencies only when the area "ceases to be occupied" by Pakistan. 
• Operationalising 33% women's reservation: By expanding the number of seats, the government aims to implement the 33 per cent reservation for women in time for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections rather than waiting till 2034. 
• Setting up the delimitation commission: Under this bill, the government will have the power to constitute a delimitation commission to distribute seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies on the basis of the latest census figures. Once the Commission's orders are published in the Gazette of India, they have the force of law and cannot be challenged in any court. 

Who all will form the delimitation commission?

The members of the commission have to be appointed by the Centre. As per the bill, the delimitation commission shall comprise one person who is or has been a Judge of the Supreme Court, the Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commissioner nominated by the Chief Election Commissioner ex officio and the State Election Commissioner of the State concerned ex officio. 

The Centre may specify the term of the Commission by notification, as per the bill. On the request of the Commission, the Centre may extend the term of the Commission by such further period as it may consider necessary. 

It further said that the Commission shall associate with itself for assisting in its duties with respect to each state. 

“Provided that where the number of members of the House of the People representing any state is five or less, then, all such members shall be the associate members for that state and in the latter case the total number of associate members shall be less than ten by such number as by which the total number of members of the House of the People representing that state is less than five,” it says.

The persons to be so associated from each state shall be nominated, in the case of the members of the House of the People, by the Speaker of that House, and in the case of members of a Legislative Assembly, by the Speaker of that Assembly, having due regard to the composition of the House or, as the case may be, of the Assembly.

The bill gives the Commission the power to call upon the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, India or his nominee; or the Surveyor General of India or his nominee; or any other officer of the central government or state government; or any expert in geographical information systems; or any other person.

“The Commission shall, in the manner herein provided, distribute the seats in the House of the People allocated to each state and Union territory and the seats assigned to the Legislative Assembly of each state to single-member territorial constituencies and delimit them on the basis of the latest census figures, having regard to the provisions of the Constitution,” the bill says.