Lok Sabha Facts: Constituencies Details

Lok Sabha Facts: Constituencies Details

The Lok Sabha currently has 543 constituencies which elect members. In addition, there are two members nominated by the government to represent the Anglo-Indian community. The 543 Lok Sabha constituencies are distributed among the states and UTs as follows:
	The boundaries of constituencies were, under the Constitution, meant to be periodically redrawn so that each constituency, as far as possible, contains roughly the same population. This would also mean redistribution of seats across states, as their relative shares of the total population changed.
	The process of redefining constituency boundaries – known as delimitation -- was frozen since the 1977 elections because it was felt that if states got fewer seats because they were able to arrest population growth, it would be a disincentive for family planning.
	This led to a peculiar situation of constituencies being extremely unequal in size. In 2004, for instance, the smallest constituency – Lakshadweep – had an electorate of just over 39,000, while the largest – Outer Delhi – had nearly 33.7 lakh
	Since population growth happens most rapidly in urban areas, the delimitation means that there will be many more seats in urban areas in 2009 than there were in 2004