Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday (April 17, 2026) said that the principle of “one person, one vote, one value” was being violated, pointing out that while some Members of Parliament represent 48 lakh people, the others represent barely 6 lakh.
Mr. Shah said the “north-south divide” narrative being engineered was detrimental to the country, and that the people of Lakshadweep had as much right on the Parliament as those from Bihar or Uttar Pradesh. He said the narrative was not going to diminish the popularity of the government and even if the Opposition “greyed their hair”, they would not be able to occupy the treasury benches.
Constitution Amendment Bill, part of delimitation package, defeated
A Constitutional Amendment Bill that sought to implement 33% reservation for women in Parliament and Assembly constituencies through delimitation was defeated in the Lok Sabha, as it could not get two-thirds of votes from members present in the House. According to available figures, out of 528 MPs present, 298 voted in favour and 230 against the Bill.
“From 1971, there is a freeze on the increase of Lok Sabha seats. Malkajgir in Telangana has 48 lakh voters, Bengaluru North has 29 lakh, Ghaziabad, represented by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh once, has 28 lakh voters, Northwest Delhi 27 lakh voters. There are 127 seats where there are more than 20 lakh voters. How can one MP fulfill the aspirations of 48 lakh people? One person, one vote, one value is being violated, somewhere it is 48 lakh and somewhere it is 6 lakh. There is no value for one person, one vote. If they (Opposition) support the delimitation, then each vote will have the same value,” Mr. Shah said.
