Lok Sabha
Updated: Wikipedia source
The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of India, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies, and they hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the president of India on the advice of the union council of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha chamber of the Parliament House in New Delhi. The maximum membership of the house as allotted by the Constitution of India is 552 before the abolition of Anglo-Indian seats, currently it is 550. As of 2025, the house has 543 elected members. Between 1952 and 2020, two additional members of the Anglo-Indian community were nominated by the president of India on the advice of the Indian government, and the practice was abolished in January 2020 by the 104th amendment to the Indian constitution. The new parliament has a maximum seating capacity for 888 members in Lok Sabha. About 131 seats (24.03%) are reserved for representatives of scheduled castes (84) and scheduled tribes (47). The quorum for the House is 10% of the total membership the house. Unless dissolved sooner, the house continues to operate for five years from the date of its first meeting. However, when a state of emergency in India is declared, this period may be extended by the parliament of India by law or decree. The 18th Lok Sabha is the latest to be elected in May 2024. The Lok Sabha proceedings are televised live on Sansad TV, operating from within the parliament premises. An exercise to redraw the boundaries of the Lok Sabha constituencies is carried out by the delimitation commission. It is carried out every decade based on the census of India, the last of which was conducted in 2011. This provision was temporarily suspended between 1976 and 2001 following a constitutional amendment to incentivize the family planning program which was being implemented. The elections for the seats are conducted by the election commission.