States That Controlled Their Population to Be Rewarded With 39 Fewer Lok Sabha Seats Than States That Did Not, Centre Confirms Process Is Fair

By DOCUMENTATION UNIT · April 15, 2026

Five southern states that achieved replacement-level fertility, higher literacy, and lower infant mortality are projected to collectively gain 63-66 Lok Sabha seats under delimitation, while seven BJP-dominant northern states gain approximately 128-131 — a disparity the Union government describes as 'purely mathematical.'

NEW DELHI — The Union government on Tuesday reaffirmed that the upcoming delimitation exercise will be conducted with full fairness and transparency, and that states which spent the last five decades successfully reducing their birth rates, improving maternal health outcomes, and expanding female literacy should have no concerns about receiving approximately half the additional parliamentary representation of states that did not.

Under projections cited by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Uttar Pradesh is expected to gain 40 Lok Sabha seats, rising from 80 to 120, while Maharashtra gains 24, Bihar gains 20, and Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat each gain between 12 and 15. Five southern states — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala — are projected to collectively gain 63 to 66 seats, a figure officials noted was "still an increase."

The gap between Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka in parliamentary seats, currently 52, is expected to grow to 78 after delimitation. Officials confirmed this outcome was the result of a population-based formula and not, as some had suggested, a formula designed to produce this specific outcome.

"The process is purely mathematical," said a senior official, adding that mathematics itself had not been consulted on whether the formula was appropriate.

Prime Minister Modi, speaking in Kerala ahead of state assembly elections, assured southern voters that states which had stabilised their populations would not lose seats. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah noted that the Prime Minister's remarks were "less like statesmanship and more like election-driven messaging," and that the concern had never been whether southern states would lose seats in absolute terms but whether they would gain them at half the rate of states the ruling party performs better in — a distinction the government said it was monitoring closely.

The delimitation freeze imposed in 1971 was designed precisely to prevent states from being penalised for successful population management. It has held for 55 years. Officials confirmed the freeze would now be lifted, and expressed confidence that the outcome would differ from what the numbers suggested.

Even after the Lok Sabha expands to 816 seats, southern states' collective share of representation is projected to remain at approximately 24 percent — unchanged from its current level, and unchanged from what it was before five decades of measurably better governance outcomes.

"States that performed better in population control and governance are being penalised," the Chief Minister said in a post on X, which the government said it had noted and would be monitoring.