Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin is to send his envoy to meet Punjab Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Bhagwant Mann and seek his presence at the 'all-party meet' in Chennai, scheduled for March 22, to protest the proposed delimitation exercise and discuss further strategy.
Addressing the media in Chandigarh today, Bhagwant Mann said, "I spoke to Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin and two Tamil Nadu ministers are coming to meet me. We want to know how many seats they (the Central Government) want to increase. Now, they want to reduce the number of seats in Tamil Nadu because their population is low, which means they are going against population control," adding "They want to reduce the number of seats in areas where they do not win elections.."
Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, stressing that unilateral moves would undermine democracy and federalism, urged the Central Government to ensure no State’s existing seat share is diminished, said, “States like Kerala, which aligned with national population control goals, should not face penalties.”
He insisted that the Union Government must approach the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies with consensus, and not unilaterally. In a statement issued Friday, Vijayan argued that reducing the proportional representation of such states in Parliament would be unjust, effectively rewarding those that failed to implement family planning policies post-independence.
Vijayan emphasized that delimitation—last conducted in 1952, 1963, and 1973—was frozen in 1976 via the 42nd Constitutional Amendment until after the 2001 census to encourage population control. The 84th Amendment extended this freeze to post-2026 (2031) due to persistent population disparities. He criticised the Union’s recent push as hasty, ignoring this framework.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin has consistently been opposing delimitation, arguing that the process could reduce Tamil Nadu’s representation in Parliament. Stalin too questioned whether Tamil Nadu was being punished for its success in population control. He has also called for a meeting of Chief ministers and various state leaders from different political parties regarding the proposed delimitation of parliamentary constituencies on March 22 in Chennai. The Governments of Karnataka, Telangana and Kerala have agreed to participate in the meet while Odisha's opposition party BJD too has expressed its willingness to participate in the meet.