Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha, also called House of the People, is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of India. The Lok Sabha has 543 members, referred to as Members of Parliament (MP), elected by an adult suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies. The Lok Sabha MPs hold their seats for 5 years or until the body is dissolved by the President on the advice of the council of ministers.
Each state is divided into territorial constituencies under the following two provisions of the Constitution:
- Each state is allotted a number of seats in the Lok Sabha in such a manner that the ratio between that number and its population was as close to uniform as possible. This provision does not apply for states having a population of less than 6 million (60 lakh). The number of seats per state has been frozen under the constitutional amendment of 1976.
- Each state is divided into territorial constituencies in such a manner that the ratio between the population of each constituency and the number of seats allotted to it (in each case, one) remain the same throughout the state. This principle is upheld by the boundary reviews mentioned above.
A total of 131 seats (24.03%) are reserved for representatives of SC/ST. An exercise to redraw the constituencies' boundaries is carried out by the Boundary Delimitation Commission of India every decade based on the Indian Census, last of which was conducted in 2011.
The 17th Lok Sabha was elected in May 2019 and is the latest to date. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Lok Sabha, also called House of the People, is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of India. The Lok Sabha has 543 members, referred to as Members of Parliament (MP), elected by an adult suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies. The Lok Sabha MPs hold their seats for 5 years or until the body is dissolved by the President on the advice of the council of ministers.
Each state is divided into territorial constituencies under the following two provisions of the Constitution:
- Each state is allotted a number of seats in the Lok Sabha in such a manner that the ratio between that number and its population was as close to uniform as possible. This provision does not apply for states having a population of less than 6 million (60 lakh). The number of seats per state has been frozen under the constitutional amendment of 1976.
- Each state is divided into territorial constituencies in such a manner that the ratio between the population of each constituency and the number of seats allotted to it (in each case, one) remain the same throughout the state. This principle is upheld by the boundary reviews mentioned above.
A total of 131 seats (24.03%) are reserved for representatives of SC/ST. An exercise to redraw the constituencies' boundaries is carried out by the Boundary Delimitation Commission of India every decade based on the Indian Census, last of which was conducted in 2011.
The 17th Lok Sabha was elected in May 2019 and is the latest to date. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
SUBJECT Variables
The 17th Lok Sabha was constituted in May 2019. BJP won the maximum number of seats after a landslide victory in the 2019 elections. The INC (Indian National Congress) won 52 seats, the second-highest number of seats in the elections. However, INC could not qualify as the Opposition party since it fell 3 seats short to obtain 10% membership of the house, the minimum required to sit in the Opposition.
Subsequent to the 2019 elections, a few MPs died and some of their seats were filled in by-elections.
- The BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) currently has 336 members in the Lok Sabha, constituting 62% of the total members in the House.
- The INC-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) has 91 members in the Lok Sabha, constituting 16.8% of the total members in the House.
- All other parties not part of either the NDA or UPA have 104 members in the Lok Sabha, constituting the remaining 21% of the total members in the House.
- 2 seats are currently vacant
Key members of the Lok Sabha:
- Speaker: Om Birla (BJP)
- Leader of the House: Narendra Modi (BJP)
- Leader of the Opposition: Vacant
STATES REPRESENTATION
The states and union territories are divided into 543 territorial constituencies, each of which elect a member to the Lok Sabha.
- Members from 6 states (Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Madhya Pradesh) comprise 51% of the total members in the Lok Sabha
MP PROFILE
Education
- 23.8% of the currently serving Lok Sabha MPs are educated less than Class 12 with 1 MP just literate and 1 MP Illiterate, at similar levels to that in the previous Lok Sabha.
- 25% of the current MPs are Graduates, in comparison to 21% in the previous Lok Sabha.
- 48% of the current MPs are highly educated (Post-graduation to Doctorates), in comparison to 53% in the previous Lok Sabha
- BJP with the largest majority in the Lok Sabha has 25% of its MPs with education levels of Class 12 and below. The INC (Indian National Congress), holding the second-highest number of seats in the Lok Sabha has 17% of its MPs with education levels of Class 12 and below. The DMK, holding the third-highest number of seats in the Lok Sabha has 13% of its MPs with education levels of Class 12 and below.
- 49% of all BJP MPs are highly educated (professionals and above), in comparison to 58% of all INC MPs.
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