CHENNAI (TIP)- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin on Friday, March 7, wrote to leaders of political parties and CMs of seven states, inviting them for a meeting in Chennai on March 22 as a first step towards “unified action” against any move by the BJP-led union government to implement delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies in a manner that will reduce the representation of states that have successfully implemented population control.
The letter comes after an all-party meeting in TN, chaired by Stalin, on Wednesday, during which it was resolved to constitute a Joint Action Committee (JAC) comprising parliamentarians from southern states to take forward a united struggle on the issue.
Though the all-party meet resolution only mentioned southern states, Stalin has sent the letter to the CMs and the leaders of national and regional parties in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Punjab and, interestingly, the BJP-ruled Odisha. In his post regarding the letter on X, he also tagged the state units of the BJP and its allies in the seven states.
Stalin also sought the leaders’ consent to be a part of the JAC, comprising eight states, and a nomination of one representative from each party to serve on the committee to help coordinate a unified strategy. Only a collaborative analysis and unified advocacy can secure a delimitation process that honours the states’ role in nation-building without compromising their current representation in percentage terms, he said.
Stressing the need to rise above political differences, Stalin wrote, “What is at stake is not any abstract principle — it is our states’ ability to secure rightful resources for development, to influence crucial policies on education and healthcare and to ensure our economic priorities receive due attention in the national agenda.”
He said the issue transcended individual states’ concerns as it “strikes at the heart of our federal principles” and called for a joint examination of delimitation across the constitutional, legal, and political dimensions and development of alternatives that preserve the existing share of representation.
Pointing out that the 84th constitutional amendment froze the delimitation until the first census carried out after 2026, he said the exercise would have been postponed to 2031, if not for the delay in conducting the 2021 census. Stating that delimitation could now happen much earlier, he said, “This acceleration gives us very little time to protect our interests.”
Stalin said the situation may become “drastically skewed” if the exercise is conducted based on the next census population. Once implemented, he said this “democratic imbalance” could persist for decades, leaving the states with diminished capacity to advocate for their people’s interests, he underscored.
“For the record, we are not against delimitation. What we oppose is its weaponisation against states that had fulfilled their national duties, thus punishing their progress,” he clarified. He blamed the union government for providing neither clarity nor any concrete commitment to address the concerns, despite the gravity of the issue.
“Their representatives have vaguely stated that delimitation would follow a ‘pro-rata’ basis, without explaining the base used for such pro-rata calculation as well as raising an empty rhetoric that no state will face a decrease in its seats,” he said.
“When the very foundation of our democracy is at stake, can we accept such vague assurances? When our states’ futures hang in the balance, do we not deserve a transparent dialogue?” he asked.