Tharoor, Surya Clash Over Delimitation at Stanford Event

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has rejected proposals to increase the Lok Sabha's strength to 850 members, calling the idea a 'joke' and warning it would undermine parliamentary debate, during a panel discussion at the Stanford India Conference 2026 in California. Tharoor compared a potential 850-member chamber to China's People's Consultative Conference, arguing that effective debate would be impossible, and cited the U.S. House of Representatives, which has retained 435 members since 1929 despite population growth.

BJP leader Tejasvi Surya countered that delimitation is a 'democratic necessity' to ensure accountability, arguing it is 'absurd' to maintain the Lok Sabha's current size based on 1971 population data in a nation of 1.4 billion. He emphasized that rising constituency sizes hinder voter access to elected representatives and called for reforms that balance representation between northern and southern states. K. Annamalai, former Tamil Nadu BJP chief, described delimitation as a 'grand bargain' between regions, noting Tamil Nadu's low fertility rate and projecting that northern states would merit more seats once the next census data is released.

Tharoor advocated for delinking women's reservation in Parliament from delimitation, stating the Congress party supports immediate passage of a one-third reservation for women as a standalone measure. He urged waiting for the next census, expected between 2027 and 2029, to inform a national debate on India's political structure ahead of the 2034 elections. Surya reiterated the BJP's position that delimitation should occur every decade as per constitutional intent to maintain democratic accountability.

The debate took place during a session titled 'India, That Is Bharat: Growth, Governance, and Identity,' organized by the Stanford India Policy and Economic Club. While no official policy decisions were announced, the discussion reflects growing political attention to delimitation ahead of the next census. Officials and political leaders are expected to begin formal discussions on the issue once Census 2021 data is published, currently anticipated by 2027.