Let 1971 census be basis of Lok Sabha seats for 30 years: Tamil Nadu parties

CHENNAI: An all-party meeting led by chief minister M K Stalin on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give an assurance in Parliament that the Lok Sabha seat matrix would continue to be based on the 1971 census for another 30 years. The 84th amendment to the Constitution had frozen the number of LS seats till 2026, after which the Union govt plans to take up a delimitation exercise.
The Wednesday meeting attended by representatives of 59 parties resolved to form a joint action committee comprising representatives of parties that have MPs in southern states to take up the issue. Six parties, including BJP, NTK, and TMC, boycotted the meeting. Those who participated unanimously passed a resolution against the proposed delimitation based on population.
Noting that population-based delimitation was “a grave threat” to India’s federal structure, the resolution said it was unfair to reduce parliamentary representation of southern states because they successfully implemented population-control measures.
“Tamil Nadu is not against delimitation, but delimitation shouldn't penalise states for successful implementation of socio-economic welfare programmes over the past five decades,” the resolution said, outlining the plans to continue advocacy and public awareness campaigns. Tamil Nadu govt passed a resolution against delimitation in February last year too.
Stalin called upon parties to come together to defeat the “conspiracy” of population-based delimitation, saying it was “unequal and unjust” and would throttle TN’s voice. If the current 543 LS seats remain, projections suggest TN could lose eight seats due to less population, reducing its representation from 39 MPs to 31. If Lok Sabha expands to 848 seats, delimitation based on proportional increase could grant TN an additional 22 seats, he said.
“If population becomes the sole criterion, the state might gain only 10 seats. This will mean we will lose 12 seats,” the chief minister said. In both these methods, the representation of TN would be reduced, and states with more population would get high representation.
AIADMK former minister D Jayakumar said his party advocated incorporating the ‘retention of 7.18% seats of Tamil Nadu’ in the resolution. The delimitation could be undertaken by realigning the boundaries of the existing constituencies in the state based on the average population of seats, he said.
PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss said Stalin should meet counterparts of southern states and exert pressure on the Centre legally and politically. TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai said the Union govt was trying to pose a threat to the state. VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan and MNM leader Kamal Haasan hit out at the Union govt. Vijay’s TVK was represented by party general secretary N Anand. TMC leader G K Vasan, who boycotted the meeting, favoured more representation for TN.