Government leaders of five states, mostly from the south, on Saturday formed a phalanx of resistance against the Narendra Modi government’s plans to redraw constituencies, jointly resolving that the Lok Sabha’s strength be frozen at the current 543 for another 25 years.
Chief ministers and other government representatives from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka and Punjab met and took the decision here amid indications that the Centre is planning a delimitation of constituencies after the 2026 population census. Opposition politicians from several states, including Odisha and Maharashtra, too participated.
Y.S.R. Jaganmohan Reddy, chief of the Opposition YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh, could not come but endorsed the JAC’s decision.
The Trinamool Congress was expected to represent Bengal at the JAC — an initiative of Tamil Nadu’s DMK chief minister, M.K. Stalin — but dropped out.
Former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik stayed away but sent two Biju Janata Dal representatives, and issued a statement from Bhubaneswar asking the Centre to hold a “detailed discussion” with all the parties on the contentious subject.
The Centre’s plans to rejig the Lok Sabha constituencies based on the upcoming population census has stoked fears that the states with the best records in population control might lose out, witnessing a drop in the proportion of their seats.
The southern states, in particular — where the BJP has largely struggled to find electoral success — are expected to be hit the worst.
“The delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies is hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles,” Kerala’s CPM chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, said at the meeting.
The Lower House’s current strength of 543 is based on the 1971 population census.
At the end of a nearly three-hour meeting, the JAC resolved that the “freeze on parliamentary constituencies based on the 1971 census population should be extended by another 25 years”.
It urged the Centre to amend the Constitution to enact the freeze and ensure that states are not punished for their success in population control.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, DMK leader TR Baalu, BRS leader KT Rama Rao and others during the first Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting of states over the proposed delimitation of Parliamentary seats by the Centre, in Chennai, Saturday, March 22, 2025. PTI
“(The) legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th and 87th constitutional amendments was to protect, incentivise states which have implemented population control measures effectively, and that the goal of national population stabilisation has not yet been achieved,” said the resolution, read out by DMK parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi at a news conference.
The resolution expressed concern at the “lack of transparency and clarity” in any impending delimitation exercise and said that political parties from all the states and other stakeholders should be consulted on the subject.
A “core committee” of MPs from the states represented at Saturday’s meeting will coordinate parliamentary strategies on the subject of delimitation and submit a joint representation to the Prime Minister during the ongoing budget session, the meeting decided.
It urged political parties from the various states to pass appropriate resolutions in their Assemblies.
The JAC will undertake a public outreach on the nuts and bolts of delimitation, including the history of this process.
Besides Stalin and Pinarayi, the chief ministers who attended the meeting were A. Revanth Reddy (Congress) of Telangana and Bhagwant Mann (AAP) of Punjab. Karnataka sent D.K. Shivakumar, the Congress deputy chief minister.
Among those representing the various political parties were Amar Patnaik and Sanjay Dasburma (BJD, Odisha), K.T. Rama Rao (Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Telangana), Sardar Balwinder Singh Bhundar (Shiromani Akali Dal, Punjab), Imtiaz Jaleel (AIMIM, Maharashtra), Jose K. Mani (Kerala Congress) and Binoy Viswam (CPI, Kerala).
Jaganmohan Reddy “sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today endorsing our position on this issue”, Kanimozhi said.
“We expect the Trinamool Congress, led by Ms Mamata Banerjee, to participate in the next meeting. They expressed inability to make it today,” she added.
Stalin agreed to Reddy’s suggestion that the next meeting of the JAC be held in Hyderabad.
At the meeting, speaker after speaker emphasised several key issues.
One, the southern states, in particular, are staring at a reduced representation (in proportion of seats, if not in absolute numbers) in the Lok Sabha because of their successful implementation of population control programmes.
Two, any unilateral decision by the BJP-led central government to redraw the constituency map amounted to undermining federalism.
Some speakers said that population cannot be the lone criterion for delimitation.
Pinarayi rapped the BJP for deciding on a delimitation exercise “without any consultation”, in a sudden move “not driven by any constitutional principles or democratic norms but by narrow political considerations”.
Reddy termed the planned delimitation a “policy of demographic penalty”, alleging a BJP ploy to politically marginalise the south.
Citing figures, Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin said that if the delimitation kept the number of Lok Sabha seats unchanged at the current 543 but redrew their boundaries based on population, the south’s combined share would drop from the existing 163 to 133.
On the other hand, if it increased the total seats to, say, 848, the number of seats from the south would rise but the region would take a hit in terms of the percentage of seats.
In his opening remarks, Stalin said: “We should all be absolutely sure that delimitation based on the current population cannot be accepted.”
He said he was not against “fair delimitation”.