Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday favoured setting up an expert panel to draw up the political and legal action plan over the Lok Sabha delimitation issue. He also batted for "fair delimitation," asserting there was no problem with measures aimed at strengthening democratic representation.
Addressing the first Joint Action Committee meeting, Stalin said the upcoming – or future population-based delimitation of constituencies based on the next census is going to greatly affect a few states.
The meeting was attended by CMs of Kerala, Punjab and Telangana -- Pinarayi Vijayan, Bhagwant Manna and A Revanth Reddy, Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar, and senior BRS leader KT Ramarao among others.
States that have controlled population through various social initiatives and progressive welfare schemes, will lose parliamentary representation significantly due to this exercise, Stalin said.
Realising this first, the CM said he held a meeting on March 5, 2025 of all the parties in Tamil Nadu.
"I made it clear that if the existing 543 seats are reduced based on the current population, Tamil Nadu will lose 8 seats. If the total number of seats in Parliament is increased, Tamil Nadu will lose 12 seats as compared to the actual increase as per current representation. I said that this will be a direct blow to our political representation," he said.
The next day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, addressing an event in Coimbatore, said that Tamil Nadu and other southern states will not lose parliamentary seats on a proportional basis and this was unclear and confusing, the CM said.
Stalin quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign address in Telangana in 2023. According to Stalin, the PM had made the following comment: "The Congress party is saying that a caste census should be conducted and communities should be given representation based on population. The next step is delimitation. If the Parliament constituencies are changed based on current population as the Congress party is saying, the southern states will lose 100 seats. Will the people of South India accept this.”
The Tamil Nadu CM said based on this comment of Modi, it could be understood that the Prime Minister himself had "admitted" that the number of constituencies will decrease.
He alleged: "The BJP has always been a party that deprives states and state rights. They want to implement their ulterior motives in the delimitation plan. No state should allow this. Realising this threat, Tamil Nadu is working with unprecedented unity."
Urging similar unity, he proposed to rename the Joint Action Committee (JAC) over delimitation as the "JAC for fair delimitation."
"We are not against delimitation; the name itself will say that we are in favour of fair delimitation. This struggle will not end with us meeting – deliberating – and passing a resolution for one day. It is very necessary to take continuous action to establish rights."
Stalin said he believed that the JAC is very necessary to create awareness among the people and to press the Centre to accept the demand to ensure fair delimitation.
"I request everyone to give their suggestions on how to conduct our political protest legally. I propose to set up a committee of experts to define the political and legal measures. I request everyone to share their views on the overall proposal. We can only win if everyone fights together with a sense of unity. We will fight with the determination that our representation should not decrease under any circumstances; we should not let it decrease. We will fight together until we achieve fair delimitation."
The chief minister said: "That is why we are at this juncture, where we have to oppose this strongly and firmly. We should all be absolutely sure that delimitation based on the current population cannot be accepted. Every state here has shown significant progress through population control. This move is going to punish such states."
By reducing the number of people's representatives, our voice will be muffled. "For two years, Manipur has been burning. But their voices for justice are being ignored, because they do not have the political strength to attract the attention of the country."
Therefore, the reduction in the number of parliamentary seats or the reduction in representation would invariably lead to a reduction in political strength, Stalin argued.
"It is not just about numbers – it is about our power, our rights, and the interests of our future. With the reduction in representation, our states will have to struggle even to get the funds we rightfully deserve. Laws will be enacted concerning us without our consent. Decisions that affect our people will be made by those who do not know us and our needs."
"Thus, if we allow the number of constituencies to be reduced or our representation to be reduced, we risk becoming disempowered citizens in our own country. That is why I say that the issue of delimitation should not be taken lightly. Let me make one more thing clear – we are not against any measure that strengthens democratic representation. But we are saying that such a measure should not affect the fair political representation of our states. This protest is not against delimitation; I think everyone will agree that this protest is for fair delimitation."
Alleging that south India would lose political voice if the NDA government at the Centre carried out delimitation on population basis, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said political parties and leaders of south must oppose any such move.
Reddy said "North will make us secondary citizens" if the delimitation exercise is implemented on a population basis.
"... we will not accept delimitation based on population because then states like UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, will dominate rest of the country. We cannot accept it any cost," he said.
The BJP is implementing a policy of 'demographic penalty', he alleged.
Though Telangana and other states respect the country's unity, delimitation based on population cannot be accepted as it will "politically limit us", he said.
He favoured not increasing Lok Sabha seats but carrying out delimitation within states.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi implemented delimitation without increasing seats because it would have created an imbalance of political power between states, he said.
The NDA government led by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, in 2001, also executed delimitation in states without increasing seats and PM Narendra Modi must also do the same, he said.
The Telangana CM asserted that the Pro Rata formula would also not be acceptable to undertake delimitation.
"Pro rata formula will also hurt us. The problem of pro rata is that it changes the power gap. The central government is decided by a majority of one seat. We have a history of a Central government falling because of just one vote. So pro-rata formula will also hurt us politically," he said.
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