New Delhi, July 30 -- Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has questioned the government's proposal to expand the Lok Sabha to 850 seats through a delimitation bill, arguing that a substantially larger House could undermine parliamentary functioning rather than strengthen democracy.

In an opinion piece published in the Indian Express on 30 July, Tharoor said the government's justification - that the Lok Sabha's strength has remained frozen while India's population has more than doubled - appears mathematically sound but overlooks the institutional consequences of creating what he described as an 'unwieldy' legislature.

"Amid all the other major challenges of the looming delimitation exercise - notably the severe political and federal friction...