India's democracy has been based on the principle of universal franchise since independence. However, the actual manifestation of popular will into government is mediated by two simultaneous processes: the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system and state-wise distribution of seats in Parliament.
The FPTP system means that a constituency-level winner need not poll a majority of votes to win an election. Being first among the others is enough. The second means that a given vote in a state can have different values as far as sending an MP in the Lok Sabha is concerned.
According to an HT analysis of the data, India's latest census was in 2011, making the state-wise population numbers dated. While we do have population projections at the state-level, they have proved to be off the mark in the past.
Kerala, which had 27.8 million electors and 20 MPs, had 1.39 million electors per MP, the lowest among large states and Union territories. It was followed by Tamil Nadu where this number was 1.6 million per MP. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh had 1.93 million electors per MP. This number was the highest for Delhi at 2.17 million electors per MP.
The current state-wise distribution of Lok Sabha seats was done on the basis of the 1971 census figures. If one were to compare the change in electors per MP between 1977 and 2024, some states have seen much larger growth than others.
The number of electors per MP has increased by six times for Delhi (the highest among 15 states and Delhi after merging new states with their parent ones in 1977) and only 2.3 times for Tamil Nadu. To be sure, among big states, the highest growth has been in Gujarat, where the number is now 3.5 times than in 1977.
The controversy over the re-adjustment of state-wise allocation of Lok Sabha MPs in keeping with 2011 census data has been criticised on two grounds: that it penalises the states which have done well to manage their population growth (most of them are in the south) and that an increase in share of non-southern states will benefit the BJP because its support is limited in the south.
One way to look at this question is to compare each party's Lok Sabha MPs in relation to the total number of electors in the constituencies from which they have been elected. The BJP is currently ranked fifth in the number of electors per MP among parties that have at least five MPs.
