Flagging the “unprecedented” delay in proroguing the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday (October 16, 2026) urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call an all-party meeting to discuss any new delimitation proposals, and cautioned him against any attempts to bulldoze a “far-reaching” Constitutional Amendment Bill.

In a letter to Mr. Modi, Mr. Kharge said it has already been 64 days since the Monsoon Session was adjourned sine die on August 13, and both Houses of Parliament are yet to be prorogued.

Terming the scenario unprecedented, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said he had first written to the Prime Minister on April 11 to convene an all-party meeting before bringing any Constitutional Amendment Bill on delimitation.

“You did not do so. Thereafter, you made the Bills public on the late evening of April 14, and convened a special session on April 16. The Constitutional Amendment Bill on delimitation failed to muster the necessary two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha on April 17 by a decisive margın,” Mr. Kharge said.

“Thereafter, on July 16 and August 27, I wrote to you again repeating our request for an all-party meeting. I am now doing so for a fourth time. Please convene an all-party meeting to have a detailed discussion on your new proposals before they are finalised for consideration in Parliament,” the Congress chief said.

All political parties must get sufficient time to deliberate among themselves, with each other and with all the other stakeholders, he added.

“Please do not once again try and bulldoze a far-reaching Constitutional Amendment Bill through Parliament as you attempted earlier and that met its well-deserved fate,” Mr. Kharge said.

Sharing Mr. Kharge’s letter on X, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said, “Mallikarjun Kharge ji has just written to the prime minister on the unprecedented delay in proroguing the Monsoon Session of Parliament and any moves the Modi government may be planning.”

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay is expected to move a resolution in the Assembly on Wednesday (August 11, 2026) regarding the proposed delimitation exercise, urging the Union government to permanently maintain the existing strength of the Lok Sabha at 543 and retain the current inter-State distribution of seats.

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Mr. Vijay had, on August 8, 2026, convened a meeting with Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu at Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai. Of the total 57 MPs — 39 in the Lok Sabha and 18 in the Rajya Sabha — from Tamil Nadu, only 19 MPs participated. At the meeting, it was decided to adopt a resolution in the Assembly to protect the rights of Tamil Nadu and the southern States.

The resolution is also likely to emphasise maintaining the current Lok Sabha-Rajya Sabha ratio of 2.2:1, while simultaneously implementing 33% reservation for women in the 2029 Lok Sabha and subsequent Assembly elections without any delay, based on the existing 543 seats.

The Hindu e-Book on delimitation | The Delimitation Debate: The Union and its Units

The government has circulated a set of three Bills related to delimitation and women’s reservation. These Bills are expected to be taken up in the extended Budget session from April 16-18, and could affect the working of Parliament in several ways. The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill proposes the following. The limit on the size of the Lok Sabha will be increased from 550 to 850. The number of seats for each State in the Lok Sabha will be based on its proportion in the population of all States. This population will be based on such Census (not necessarily the latest) that is specified by Parliament by passing a law. The Bill also clarifies that the reservation of one-third of seats for women will be effective after a delimitation, and will be valid for 15 years. The Delimitation Bill sets up a Delimitation Commission, and its provisions are similar to the last one set up in 2002. Importantly, it requires the latest published Census to be used. Therefore, the next delimitation is proposed to be based on the 2011 Census. The third Bill extends these provisions to the three Union Territories with legislatures: Delhi, J&K, and Puducherry.

There are several implications of these proposals. First, the freezing of seats until the first Census after 2026 has been removed. Instead, seats will be decided based on the 2011 Census. An immediate implication is that the relative share of seats in the Lok Sabha for each State will change. The biggest losers are Kerala and Tamil Nadu, while the main gainers are Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. While the proposal will equalise the value of the vote of every citizen regardless of their State of residence, it will lead to MPs from U.P. and Bihar (25% of total seats, up from 22%) having significant power to shape national policy.