Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday expressed support to his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin’s leadership to bring all like minded political parties together on the issue of delimitation of constituencies.
TN Information Technology & Digital Services Minister P Thiaga Rajan and Chennai South MP Dr.Thamizhachi Thangapandian met Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday and extended a formal invite to the joint action committee (JAC) meeting Stalin will hold in Chennai on March 22. The two TN leaders, Vijayan posted on X, “invited me to the JAC meeting to oppose the unconstitutional delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies. Stand in solidarity on this pressing issue.”
Vijayan, however, did not immediately respond if he would be visiting Chennai. Official sources said he is likely to depute someone to represent Kerala.
On Thursday, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah had thrown his weight behind Stalin’s initiative and announced he would be sending Dy CM DK Shivakumar to attend the meeting.
In a statement, the Kerala CM said that the Union Government should take a decision on the issue of delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies on the basis of a consensus. The delimitation should be carried out without reducing the existing proportional share of seats of any State. States that have effectively implemented population control measures should not be punished. It is unfair to reduce the proportional representation in Parliament of States that have reduced their population in accordance to the population control programmes and family planning policies introduced by the Union Government after independence. It would be tantamount to rewarding the States which have failed in all these.
The delimitation process was previously carried out in the country in 1952, 1963 and 1973. However, in 1976, a freeze was put on this process through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment until the first census after 2000 (2001). This was to promote population control. Due to the continued disparity in population among the states, it was extended until the first census after 2026 (2031), through the 84th Constitutional Amendment. That situation still exists. The new move in haste by the Union Government is without taking that into account, Vijayan said.
The Union Government’s arguments that the South Indian States will get additional seats on a pro-rata basis cannot be taken at face value. The Union has not been able to clarify whether this pro-rata distribution will be based on the percentage of the current parliamentary seats or on the basis of population figures. In either case, the South Indian States are bound to lose representation. Therefore, the Union Government should alleviate the fears of the South Indian States. It is the Union’s responsibility to refrain from unilateral measures and preserve the essence of democracy and federalism, he added.
