Congress MP Manish Tewari has claimed that the BJP-led central government plans to increase the strength of Lok Sabha to 1000 MPs or more before 2024. He said there should be a public consultation before any such decision is taken.
Congress MP Manish Tewari on Sunday claimed there was a “proposal” by the BJP-led central government to increase the strength of Lok Sabha to 1000 MPs or more before 2024, saying there should be a public consultation before any such decision is taken.
Manish Tewari tweeted saying that, “I am reliably informed by Parliamentary colleagues in @BJP4India that there is a proposal to increase strength of Lok Sabha to 1000 or more before 2024. New Parliament Chamber being constructed as a 1000 seater. Before this is done there should be a serious public consultation.”
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Karti Chidambaram another Congress MP said that, “Public debate is needed. A large country like ours needs more directly elected representatives. But if the increase is based on population it will further diminish the representation of the southern states, that will not be acceptable.”
There are currently 543 members in the Lok Sabha and 245 in the Rajya Sabha. However, the government has hinted at increasing the number of public representatives in the Parliament following the construction of the new Parliament building.
In a December 2020 interview with India Today, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had said it should be assumed that the number of MPs would increase in the near future as quite a few Lok Sabha seats represent (as many as) 1.6 million to 1.8 million people.
“Presently, if all 543 MPs are present in the building, they are not all visible from the Chair—many MPs even have to sit behind pillars. They complain that in such a situation they are unable to [address the House] properly and face difficulties working. The desks and seating areas are crowded. There is no space for modern multimedia communication equipment and voting systems,” Om Birla said hinting at the difficulties faced by the parliamentarians.
Om Birla said the new Parliament building will have a seating capacity for 888 members in the Lok Sabha Chamber with an option to increase the capacity to 1,224 during joint sessions. Similarly, the Rajya Sabha Chamber would have a seating capacity for 384 members.
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