The NDA is aggressively lobbying to secure the two-thirds majority needed to pass the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which proposes raising Lok Sabha seats to 850. Meanwhile, the Opposition has closed ranks, with senior Congress leaders cautioning potential defectors against supporting the redistricting legislation.The government’s push and the subsequent political maneuvers have triggered the following developments.
The NDA is attempting to court regional Opposition factions
such as the DMK and the
NCP (Sharad Pawar) by floating the possibility of a uniform 50% seat increase across all states to alleviate concerns of southern representation.
Congress leaders have slammed the government’s approach, labeling any support for the redrawn delimitation bill as a “betrayal of conscience”. The INDIA bloc largely views the legislation as a veiled attempt to shift parliamentary power.
While floor realignments have bumped the NDA’s Lok Sabha tally to around 319, the coalition still falls short of the 360-mark required for a two-thirds majority in the 540-seat House.
News Edit KV Raman
