Article 81

If the President considers that the Anglo-Indian community is underserved as in House, he or she could appoint up to two Anglo-Indians per Article 331. The Lok Sabha has a total of 552 seats, which means they can only admit 552 people. The current number of Lok Sabha seats in use is 543.

The Lok Sabha seats are divided into three groups: one for the government, one for the opposition, and one that is empty. The government holds 335 Lok Sabha seats, wherein the BJP has 301 and the opposition have 204.

Article 81 further provides that the number of parliament seats allotted to a state must be so that the proportion of  number to an actual vote is just as consistent as possible across all states. This is done to ensure so each state is treated fairly. Therefore, this reasoning does not truly applicable to small states having population of fewer than 60 lakh. As a consequence, although its population-to-seat margin is inadequate to fulfil the qualifications for that seat, every state obtains at least one member.

“Population as established in last prior census wherein the essential statistics have indeed been published,” as according Clause 3 of Article 81, indicates “inhabitants as determined during last previous census in which the requisite figures have really been published.” In other words, one of most recent Survey. As per a 2003 amendment to this Clause, the demographic represents the population since the 1971 Census until the Census is completed after 2026.

CHANGES

The Lok Sabha did not always have 543 seats. Article 81 originally specified that the Lok Sabha can not currently have more than 500 members. The first House, established in 1952, comprised 497 members. Because of Constitution uses populations to calculate seat allocation, the composition of the Lower House has changed with each Census up to 1971.  A temporary ban on ‘Delimitation’ was instituted in 1976 and will last until 2001. Delimitation refers to the process of redrewing the bounds of Parliament & state legislative members to reflect population changes.

The composition of the House, on the other hand, did not change merely the result of redesigning procedures in 1952, 1963, 1973, & 2002. There were other factors to consider. For instance, the first shift in composition of the Lok Sabha came shortly after the establishment of such a Madras state during 1953. With the establishment of a new district of Uttar Pradesh, Twenty-Eight  of Madras’ 75 seat were transferred to the new province. The total strength of the House (497) remained constant.

Article 81 requires that all states have same population-to-seat ratio. Regardless of the unintended implications, this means that nations with little interest in population management may end up with more seats in Parliament. Southern states that supported on family planning risked losing their seats. To allay these fears, the Constitution was amended during Indira Gandhi’s Emergency powers in 1976 to postpone delimitation till 2001.

CONCLUSION 

After the 1956 restructuring of states, which split the nation in 14 state governments and 6 Union Territories, the first major shift occurred. As a result, the borders of sovereign nations were redrawn, resulting in a shift in the distribution of seats among states/union/ union territories. As a result of the restructuring, the government revised the Constitution, retaining the maximum number of members allotted to states of 500, but adding an extra 20 seats (also the highest limit) to serve the 6 Union Territories.

In 1957, the 2nd Lok Sabha was elected with 503 members. The lower House’s composition altered throughout time as the province of Haryana was established from out Punjabi in 1966 and Goa & Daman & Diu were emancipated in 1961 and eventually integrated into the Indian Union.