President calls for increase in parliamentary seats
NEW DELHI: Noting that only 543 Lok Sabha constituencies represent 1.28 billion people in the country, President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said that it was time to take a look at the legal provisions on the delimitation of the Parliamentary constituencies with a view to increasing their number.
The President said that the Constitution (Forty Second Amendment) Act, 1976, imposed a freeze on the population figure for readjustment at the 1971 Census and has been extended by the Constitution (Eightyfourth Amendment) Act, 2001, till 2026.
“As a result the House of People today represents population figure of 1971 Census whereas our population has increased manifold in recent decades,” Mukherjee said.
He added, “This gives rise to an anomalous situation wherein India has over 800 million voters and 543 Lok Sabha constituencies represent 1.28 billion people.”
In 1971, India had a population of 54 crore, which has now increased to 121 crore as per the 2011 Census.
If Great Britain can have more than 600 Parliamentary constituencies, why can’t India, with a much higher population, have more number of seats, Mukherjee asked.
The President was speaking at an All-India Seminar on ’Economic Reforms With Reference to Electoral Issues’ organised by the Confederation of the Indian Bar in New Delhi. He said that a strong electoral system is necessary to strengthen the democratic structure of India.
“From 1952 to this date, no political party in India has won election by scoring 51% of votes...So the question comes that a vast number of votes polled, whether they would have some sort of representation,” he said.
JS Khehar, Chief Justice of India, said electoral promises remain unfulfilled and manifestos turn out to be mere pieces of paper, for which political parties must be held accountable.
He said parties give “brazen” excuses, such as lack of consensus amongst members, to justify non-fulfilment of promises.
Khehar said that none of the manifestos released by parties during the 2014 general elections indicated any link between electoral reforms and the Constitutional goal of ensuring economic-social justice to the marginalised section.
He said that pursuant to the Supreme Court’s directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to formulate guidelines against freebies, the poll panel has been taking action against parties for violation of the model code of conduct.