Freeze Lok Sabha strength at 543, implement women quota on existing seats: Tamil Nadu to Centre

On Wednesday, the Tamil Nadu Assembly adopted a resolution urging the Union government to permanently cap the Lok Sabha at its current 543 seats, opposing any expansion through a fresh delimitation exercise. The resolution, led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, called for the implementation of the 33% women's reservation quota from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and state legislative elections, without waiting for potential redistribution of parliamentary representation.

Vijay argued that women outnumber men among voters in Tamil Nadu and framed the issue as one of social justice. The resolution presented four demands to the government: retaining the Lok Sabha's strength at 543, freezing seat allocations among states, maintaining a 2.2:1 ratio between Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and implementing women's reservation in 2029 based on existing constituencies.

The government argued that successful states in population control programmes should not face reduced political representation due to delimitation, citing a five-decade-old practice of not delimiting constituencies based on new population counts. The Assembly resolution reflects concerns from Tamil Nadu and other southern states about losing relative influence in Parliament due to slower population growth, particularly in the context of the upcoming 2026 census.