Chennai: Amidst concerns over Union home minister Amit Shah’s talk of a delimitation exercise, a common resolution was passed in the all-party meeting convened by Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin, urging the Union government to freeze the number of seats’ as it is for another 30 years.
The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government in 2001 had similarly frozen the number of seats for 25 years.
“This all-party meeting unanimously and strongly opposes the “parliamentary constituency delimitation based on population,” which poses a significant threat to India’s federal structure and the political representation rights of Tamil Nadu and other South Indian states,” the parties said.
The resolution said that it is “completely unjustified” to reduce the parliamentary representation of Tamil Nadu and other southern states “solely because they have actively implemented population control measures for the nation’s welfare.”
“In this regard, to encourage all states to adopt population control measures, the Prime Minister must reaffirm in Parliament the assurance given in the year 2000 by the then-Prime Minister that parliamentary constituencies would continue to be determined based on the 1971 population figures, and this criterion should be extended for another 30 years,” the resolution said.
The all-party meeting emphasised that “Tamil Nadu is not opposed to constituency delimitation in principle, but at the same time, it should not be used as a punitive measure” against states that have implemented socio-economic welfare programmes over the past 50 years, the resolution held.
‘Proportionate increase’
The parties resolved that if seats are to be increased, they should be increased uniformly at the existing rate of seats. “The Union Government must enact the necessary constitutional amendment to ensure that the number of constituencies for Tamil Nadu and other southern states is increased in the same proportion as the existing distribution between states, based on the 1971 population figures, in both Houses of Parliament,” the resolution said.
The meeting urged the Union government to enact the necessary constitutional amendments to ensure that Tamil Nadu and the southern states receive a proportionate increase in constituencies.
A ‘joint action force’ comprising representative political parties from southern states will also be formed to protest against the delimitation exercise, it was decided. A formal invitation will be sent to all South Indian parties to join this initiative, the resolution held.
The Tamil Nadu wing of the BJP is learned to have sat out this meeting.
The Tamil Nadu assembly on February 14, 2024, had unanimously adopted a resolution against the Union government’s proposed delimitation after 2026.
