Devotees gather on the banks of river Ganga to perform rituals in Kolkata. 

If India’s parliamentary seats were to be re-allocated across states on the basis of population–the Constitution requires that the allocation be looked at in 2026–the Gangetic belt would send 275 of 548 MPs to the Lok Sabha, according to estimates.  From 29% today, 33% members of the Lok Sabha (Parliament’s lower house) will come from three states–Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal–within a decade, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of data in a Kotak Securities report on ...