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The Centre maintains that southern states will not be penalised for having controlled their population and their number of seats in the Lok Sabha will not reduce
Home Minister Amit Shah’s guarantee came in response to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin calling for an all-party meeting on March 5 to protest against the said delimitation exercise. (PTI)
Home Minister Amit Shah, in a major statement while in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, assured the people of all southern states that delimitation will not reduce seats pro-rata. The home minister said not a single south state will get affected by delimitation as was promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Shah’s guarantee came in response to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin calling for an all-party meeting on March 5 to protest against the said delimitation exercise, expressing fears that it will be not be in favour of southern states that have controlled population, and amidst reports that Tamil Nadu seats in Lok Sabha could come down from 39 to 31 post-delimitation.
Further, sources say delimitation can only be done after Census is carried out in 2026. The latest census data, once available in 2026, is to be used for the delimitation exercise to be done across the country. The Delimitation Commission, which will be set up, will have representation from all parties to put forward their views, sources added. This will probably become the basis for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. The Centre maintains that southern states will not be penalised for having controlled their population and their number of seats in the Lok Sabha will not reduce.
Stalin has termed the delimitation exercise as a sword hanging on the head of the southern states and has appealed to other southern states to also protest against any such decision of the Centre to reduce their proportional representation in the Lok Sabha. The BRS and the Congress in the South have also opposed any such move. The issue is important as northern states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have had huge population growth over the past couple of decades and the number of Lok Sabha seats they have could grow significantly from 80 and 40 seats respectively at present.
MK Stalin has said that reducing the number of seats for Tamil Nadu is alike to suppressing the rights of Tamil Nadu and said this affects not just the state, but the whole of South India. He has also written a letter to various political parties of the South to oppose the move.
WHAT IS DELIMITATION?
A delimitation exercise essentially fixes the number of seats and boundaries of territorial constituencies in all states for the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies. The SC-ST reserved seats are also determined accordingly. The last Delimitation Commission was set up in 2002, while the last delimitation exercise was completed way back in 1976. Delimitation has been determined by the formula of allocating seats in the Lok Sabha based on the population of each state as far as possible. So, the seats are to be adjusted as per population changes.
Article 81 of the Indian Constitution says that seats in the Lok Sabha should be allocated among the different states in such a manner that, “the ratio between that number and the population of the state is, so far as practicable, the same for all States”.
As to the territorial constituencies in each state, the Constitution says they shall be divided “in such manner that the ratio between the population of each constituency and the number of seats allotted to it is, so far as practicable, the same throughout the state”.
But population is subject to change and, hence, there should be periodic review of the population and suitable adjustments in the allocation of seats to various legislative and elected bodies. That is the work of delimitation, which in India is executed by a Delimitation Commission
The Centre has now promised that southern states will not lose out on account of controlling their population over the years.
Shah was in Coimbatore on Wednesday and has inaugurated some BJP offices in the southern state. He also expressed hope that the BJP will come to power in the Tamil Nadu elections next year.
