Elections and Duration of Houses of Parliament

Territorial Constituencies — “How are Lok Sabha seats distributed?”

Let’s begin with a very simple question:
When we say India votes to elect members to the Lok Sabha, how exactly does that happen?

For this purpose, each State is divided into territorial constituencies — i.e., geographical areas from where people elect their representative.

Now, the Constitution lays down two golden rules to ensure fair and uniform representation:

1. Between States:
   Each State gets seats in the Lok Sabha in proportion to its population.
   → That means, if two States have equal population, they should ideally have equal number of seats.
   (However, this rule doesn’t apply to very small States with population under 6 million.)
2. Within the same State:
   Each constituency should represent roughly the same number of people.
   → So, each MP from that State should represent an almost equal share of population.

📘 In short:

There must be uniformity of representation:

1. Between States
2. Between constituencies within a State

And when the Constitution says “population,” it means the population as per the last published census.

Readjustment After Each Census — “The Delimitation Exercise”

Now imagine this:
Population is not constant — it keeps changing. Some States grow faster, some slower.
If representation is to remain fair, the boundaries of constituencies and allocation of seats must be updated from time to time.

This process is called Delimitation — redrawing of constituency boundaries.

🔹 Parliament decides who will do this and how.
So, it passed Delimitation Commission Acts in 1952, 1962, 1972, and 2002.

But here’s the twist 👇

After the 1971 Census, population differences between States had become very wide.
Southern States that controlled population growth would have lost seats, while northern States (like UP, Bihar) would have gained.

So, to avoid penalising States that successfully controlled population, the 42nd Amendment Act (1976) froze the number of seats and the delimitation process till the year 2000 (based on 1971 Census data).

Later, the 84th Amendment Act (2001) extended this freeze further till 2026 —
again to promote population control measures.

However, the 84th Amendment allowed minor readjustment within States using the 1991 Census, just to rationalize boundaries.

Then, the 87th Amendment Act (2003) updated that to use the 2001 Census instead of 1991 —
but again, without changing how many seats each State gets in Lok Sabha.

🗣️ In simple words:

The boundaries of constituencies can change,
but the total number of seats for each State in Lok Sabha remains frozen till 2026.

Reservation of Seats for SCs and STs

Now let’s address another important constitutional provision.

India abolished communal representation (i.e., separate electorates for Hindus, Muslims, etc.),
but to ensure social justice, it provides reservation of seats for:

• Scheduled Castes (SCs)
• Scheduled Tribes (STs)

📊 This reservation is in proportion to their population in each State.

Originally, this was meant to last only 10 years (till 1960).
But since the socio-economic gap persisted, this period kept getting extended every 10 years.

The 104th Amendment Act (2019) has now extended it till 2030.

➡️ Important Clarification:

These are not separate electorates.
SC/ST candidates contest from reserved constituencies, but every voter in that area (SC/ST or not) votes in that election.
Also, an SC/ST person can contest from a general seat too — there is no restriction.

Further, the 84th Amendment (2001) and 87th Amendment (2003) allowed refixing of the number of SC/ST reserved seats based on 1991 and later 2001 Census data respectively.

The First-Past-The-Post System — “How do we elect the winner?”

Now, how is the actual election conducted?

India uses the Territorial Representation system, popularly called the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system.

Let’s understand this with an example:

• Each constituency = 1 seat
• Many candidates may contest
• The candidate who gets the maximum votes (not necessarily more than 50%) wins

That’s it — simple majority wins.
Hence, it’s also called the “simple majority system.”

✅ Advantages:

• Simple to understand
• Easy to conduct
• Stable governments (since it favours larger parties)

❌ Drawbacks:

• It doesn’t represent the entire electorate.
• Suppose Candidate A wins with 35% votes — it means 65% didn’t vote for them, yet they represent everyone.
• Minorities or smaller groups might not get fair representation.

Why Not Adopt Proportional Representation for Lok Sabha?

The Constituent Assembly debated this.
Some members wanted Proportional Representation (PR) — a system where seats are distributed according to percentage of votes each party gets.
But the Assembly rejected it for two main reasons:

1. Low literacy — Voters in the 1950s might find the PR system (especially the “single transferable vote”) too complex.
2. Unsuitability to Parliamentary form — PR tends to produce many small parties, leading to political instability.

In addition, PR has some practical demerits:

• It’s expensive
• Makes by-elections impossible
• Weakens the voter–representative connection
• Encourages group politics and minority-based parties
• Increases power of political parties over individual voters

So, India preferred a stable and simple system — the FPTP system — over a “perfectly representative” but unstable one.

Duration of the Two Houses

Duration of the Rajya Sabha

Rajya Sabha is like an endless river — it keeps flowing; its members change, but the body never dries up.
It is called a continuing chamber — a permanent body that cannot be dissolved.

Instead, its membership is rotational:

• Every two years, one-third of members retire.
• Their seats are filled by fresh elections or new Presidential nominations.
• A retiring member can be re-elected any number of times.

The Constitution didn’t fix a term for Rajya Sabha members; it left it to Parliament.

So, under the Representation of the People Act, 1951,
the term of office for a Rajya Sabha member is 6 years.

🔹 In the first Rajya Sabha (1952), the retirement order was decided by lottery —
to determine who would retire after 2, 4, and 6 years, thus setting the rotation cycle.

Duration of the Lok Sabha

Unlike Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha is not permanent — it’s like a batch of students that must pass out after its term.

• Its normal term = 5 years from the date of its first sitting.
• After that, it automatically dissolves.

However:

• The President can dissolve the Lok Sabha anytime earlier, and this decision cannot be challenged in court.

🔺 Extension During National Emergency

During a National Emergency, Parliament can extend Lok Sabha’s term:

• By one year at a time through law.
• This can continue as long as the Emergency is in force.
• But once Emergency ends, the extension cannot go beyond six months.

So, for instance, during the 1975–77 Emergency, the Lok Sabha’s term was extended.

📘 Summary Table

House	Nature	Term	Dissolution	Special Provision
Rajya Sabha	Permanent body	6 years (⅓ retires every 2 years)	Cannot be dissolved	Members can be re-elected
Lok Sabha	Temporary chamber	5 years (normal)	Can be dissolved anytime by President	Can be extended during Emergency (1 year at a time)

🧩 In Essence

• Rajya Sabha gives continuity to the system.
• Lok Sabha gives fresh mandate and democratic legitimacy.
• Together, they balance stability and accountability in India’s parliamentary democracy.