The state that sends the largest number of members to the Lok Sabha is:

Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha constituencies, the highest of any state in India.

States with the most Lok Sabha seats:

• Uttar Pradesh: 80 seats.
• Maharashtra: 48 seats.
• West Bengal: 42 seats.
• Bihar: 40 seats.
• Tamil Nadu: 39 seats.

Why Uttar Pradesh has the most seats:

• Seats are allotted to states on the basis of population, so that the ratio of seats to population is roughly the same for all large states.
• Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India.
• Before Uttarakhand was carved out of it, undivided Uttar Pradesh had 85 seats; 5 seats went to the new state.

Political importance:

Because of its large number of seats, Uttar Pradesh plays a major role in deciding which party or coalition forms the government at the Centre.

Many Prime Ministers, including Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Charan Singh, Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi, have represented constituencies in the state.

Freeze on the number of seats:

• The allocation of seats among states is based on the 1971 census and has been frozen until after the first census taken after 2026.
• This was done so that states that controlled their population growth are not penalised by losing seats.
• When the freeze ends, there may be a major redistribution of seats, with northern states gaining and southern states possibly losing their share.

Rajya Sabha seats:

Uttar Pradesh also has the most seats in the Rajya Sabha, 31.

Reserved seats in Uttar Pradesh:

Some of its Lok Sabha seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes, in proportion to their population.

Total strength:

The Lok Sabha has 543 elected seats, of which 530 are from the states.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Maharashtra (48), West Bengal (42) and Bihar (40) have fewer seats than Uttar Pradesh.