Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday (April 16, 2026) told the Lok Sabha that the Bills to amend the women’s reservation law and carry out a fresh delimitation exercise will keep current proportional representation of southern States intact while increasing the absolute number of seats for each State approximately by 50%.
While the Prime Minister gave an assurance that the proportional distribution of seats among States will be maintained, it was the Home Minister who gave a detailed scenario for each southern State after the three Bills become law.
The debate followed the introduction of three Bills: the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, to enable implementation of the women’s quota by the 2029 Lok Sabha polls; the Delimitation Bill, 2026, to readjust parliamentary and Assembly constituencies through a Delimitation Commission; and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, to extend the quota to the legislatures of Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu & Kashmir.
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Mr. Shah said that as the Minister piloting the Bill, he was placing this interpretation before the House officially. “I understand my responsibility. Those who are spreading misconceptions perhaps do not understand,” he said.
