After the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission of India will undertake the task of creating new constituencies for the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
This process, which began in 2020 by the ECI for the latest delimitation, will increase the number of Lok Sabha members from Gujarat to around 42, up from the current 26, if the number of seats in Lok Sabha rises from 543 to 800 or more in the present meetings.
The deadline for the current delimitation of the Lok Sabha is 2027. On the other hand, a new Parliament building is being constructed in New Delhi. The new building has a seating capacity of 888 for the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha has a seating capacity of 384. Therefore, in 2026, a new commission will be created by the ECI for the delimitation of new constituencies, which may increase the number of Lok Sabha MPs from 543 to over 800.
While 245 seats are reserved for state assemblies in the Rajya Sabha, there will be around 332 MPs elected by state assemblies. The number of MPs representing Gujarat in the Rajya Sabha will increase from 11 to around 17.
The population census did not take place in the year 2021. However, meetings for Members of Parliament were held in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, as well as state-wise meetings were conducted based on estimated data prepared by experts using the 2011 census data as a basis. This estimate is also being used for practice in competitive exams such as the UPSC.
After the new delimitation in 2027, the 16th legislative assembly election will be held in Gujarat. Hence, it shows the possibility of having up to 230 meetings for the state legislative assembly, which is an increase from 182.
Based on the new delimitation, in the year 2027, elections will be held in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly and at that time, the number of seats in the state will increase from 182 to 230 as a result of the meeting of the Delimitation Commission.
The reason for this is that new quarters are being built in Gandhinagar for the members of the assembly, which will have 214 residences. Currently, there are 168 residences for MLAs in Sector-21.
There are 47 bungalows in the Minister’s residence for ministers, opposition leaders, speakers of the legislative assembly, deputy speakers, chief whip, and other officials. Therefore, according to the new delimitation in 2027, the meetings of the legislative assembly will also be held with more than 182 seats, and up to 230 seats.
The ECI will initiate the delimitation process in the year 2026 or at the end of 2025. Experts associated with these processes have stated that after the commission is formed, orders will be issued based on population and territorial standards to carry out delimitation in all states.
The delimitation process will begin with the publication of a primary notice by the collectors of each state. The commission will receive reports from the Election Commission with the help of voters’ lists. After approving the primary delimitation, the collector will request a final notice through the publication of a voters’ list. The final delimitation will be based on this list.
In the State Legislative Assembly, 60 out of 182 constituencies are urban. These constituencies will remain the same in the new delimitation. This is because the population of urban areas has increased, and even small towns that fall under this category have been designated as a separate electoral constituency by the municipality.
Since the delimitation in 2004, when rural voters dominated the meetings, urban voters have increased. Therefore, the number of urban constituencies will now increase from 55 to 60 per cent. This is expected to be discussed in about 130 out of 230 meetings.
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