'Kerala will lose 6 seats, Tamil Nadu 9 seats, Telangana and Karnataka 2 seats each, Andhra Pradesh 5 seats.'
Kindly note the image has only been posted for representational reasons. Photograph: ANI Photo
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, addressing an all-party meet on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, over the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats, urged the central government to freeze the existing number of Lok Sabha seats at 543 for the next 30 years beyond 2026.
After delimitation comes into effect, the total number of Lok Sabha seats will go up from 543 to 800 in 2029.
However, the distribution of new Lok Sabha seats will be according to the population of each state. It is here that Stalin fears that the number of seats for Tamil Nadu, and other southern states, will reduce drastically, giving North Indian states an upper hand in government formation.
"Andhra currently has 25 seats, Karnataka 28 seats, Tamil Nadu 39, Kerala 20 and Telangana 17. It is less than 1/3rd of the total Lok Sabha seats. In other words it is 23.8%, but if you bring in delimitation then you will get only 19.3% Lok Sabha seats for South India," Sanjeer Alam, associate professor, Centre for Study of Developing Societies, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com.
If you were to explain delimitation of parliamentary seats to a common man, what will you say?
Delimitation refers to the process where electoral constituencies are created.
According to the Constitution a constituency may be created on the basis of population margin. This means that the allocation of Lok Sabha seats in different states will depend on the proportion of the population of that state in the overall population.
The other aspect of delimitation is to equalise the size of population across the constituencies and across states so that the ideal of one person one vote one value maybe ensured, which is the cardinal principal of political equality.
Does it mean that Tamil Nadu Chief minister M K Stalin is right when he says that his state is being punished by getting fewer seats because they followed population control norms better?
Yes, he is right.
The last time allocation of Lok Sabha seats was done was in 1976. It was done through the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution.
At that time, the number of Lok Sabha seats allocated to different states was frozen until the Census of 2001.
In these 25 years, from 1976-2001, South Indian states successfully implemented family planning policies. They were able to curtail the population growth rate in their states.
So the end result was that the population which we witness today in South India is much lower than what we see in Northern India where family planning was not done successfully.
And now if you do delimitation of Lok Sabha seats according to the population distribution of India, then the southern states will certainly lose some seats.
What situation do you foresee if delimitation becomes a reality?
Kerala will lose as many as six seats. Currently, Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha seats, it will reduce to 14.
Similarly, Tamil Nadu will lose as many as nine seats.
Telangana will lose two seats, Andhra is likely to lose five seats.
Karnataka will lose two seats.
And what about the North Indian states?
Uttar Pradesh will get 12 extra Lok Sabha seats.
Bihar will get 10 extra seats.
Jharkhand will get two extra seats.
Madhya Pradesh will get five extra seats.
Rajasthan is likely to get seven extra seats.
Home Minister Amit Shah says seats distribution after delimitation will be fair.
It is not clear what Amit Shah has in his mind over the delimitation issue.
There are two ways of addressing the fear of Southern states.
One is, you don't relocate Lok Sabha seats as it was done in the last delimitation exercise. You carry out delimitation internally within the state but not across the states.
The second way to address the fear of South Indian states would be if you increase the number of Lok Sabha seats in their states so that no state stands to lose.
In percentage terms what is the balance between Southern and Northern states now and how will it reduce when delimitation comes into play?
Andhra currently has 25 seats, Karnataka 28 seats, Tamil Nadu 39, Kerala 20 and Telangana 17. It is less than 1/3rd of the total Lok Sabha seats.
In other words it is 23.8%, but if you bring in delimitation then you will get only 19.3% Lok Sabha seats for South India.
Was there any controversy in the 1976 delimitation exercise over South India getting fewer seats?
There was no problem at that time.
The population of South India and North India grew almost equally till 1976 (from 1947).
It was only after 1976 that the Southern states started taking measures against population growth, showing good results. The family planning programme was not followed in North India on that scale and hence the population between North India and South India has a huge gap.
Does it mean that Southern states are being penalised for following population control measures better by getting fewer Lok Sabha seats?
Yes, that is their (M K Stalin and other South Indian politicians') point of argument. They are being penalised for controlling population growth in their respective states.
Their fear is not entirely misplaced. Almost every Southern state will lose some seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
In this scenario, what should the delimitation commission do?
Constitutionally, population is the primary criterion to delimit constituencies in India. Whether the next delimitation commission will introduce a secondary aspect, I don't know.
Even if they want to introduce secondary changes, a Constitutional amendment will be required.
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