Chennai:

The crucial meeting witnessed a political consensus emerge with leaders of various states calling for 'fair delimitation', as they discussed how delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies based on population would undermine the position of the southern states.

The maiden Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting over Lok Sabha delimitation hosted by DMK took place in Chennai on Saturday with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin in the chair.

As many as 14 leaders from at least five states including four chief ministers -- M K Stalin (TN), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), A Revanth Reddy (Telangana) and Bhagwant Mann (Punjab) -- participated in the meeting in which they deliberated on the 'threat' posed by the Lok Sabha seats delimitation exercise to states with high economic growth and literacy.

At the meeting held at ITC Grand Chola hotel in Guindy here, TN Chief Minister Stalin the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies based on population will have a massive impact on "states like us".

Calling for setting up an expert panel to draw up the political and legal action plan, Stalin also proposed christening the panel as 'Joint Action Committee for fair delimitation' and sought ideas to initiate legal action, by taking forward political fight.

Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar and working president of Shiromani Akali Dal Balwinder Singh Bhunder, and general secretary of Indian Union Muslim League Kerala P M A Salam also participated in the meeting.

Delimitation was hanging like 'sword of Damocles': Kerala CM

"This sudden move is not driven by Constitutional principles or democratic imperatives," but by narrow political interests. Delimitation, if done after Census will lead to an increase in seats for northern states, a reduction for southern states. Such a cut in seats for the south and an increase for the north will suit the BJP as it holds greater influence in the north.

During the meeting, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the delimitation of LS seats was hanging like the "sword of Damocles," and alleged the BJP government was going ahead on the issue without any consultation.

JAC unanimously resolved that:

Any delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government to improve the content and character of democracy should be carried out transparently, enabling political parties of all the States, State Governments and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute in it.

Given the fact that the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th and 87th Constitutional amendments was to protect/incentivise States which have implemented population control measures effectively and the goal of national population stabilisation has not yet been achieved, the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on 1971 Census Population, should be extended by another 25 years.

The States which have effectively implemented the population control program and consequently whose population share has come down, should not be penalised. The Union Government must enact necessary constitutional amendments for this purpose.

The Core Committee consisting of Members of Parliament from the represented States will coordinate the parliamentary strategies to counter any attempts by the Union Government to undertake any delimitation exercise contrary to the principles mentioned above.

The Core Committee of MPs shall submit a Joint Representation on the above lines to Prime Minister of India during the ongoing Parliamentary session.

The Political Parties from different states represented in the meeting will initiate efforts to bring about appropriate Legislative Assembly resolutions in their respective States on the issue and communicate the same to Union Government.

The JAC will also undertake necessary efforts to disseminate information on the history and context of past delimitation exercises and the consequences of the proposed delimitation among the citizens of their respective States, through a coordinated public opinion mobilization strategy.

DMK At Loggerheads With Centre

Opposition to National Education Policy, NEET, alleged Hindi imposition are among the issues in which the DMK is cornering the BJP-led Centre. When the Tamil Nadu government days ago used a Tamil letter 'Roo' (for promotional material on state budget 2025-26) to denote Rupee it led to a big debate. Following the Enforcement Directorate's recent Rs 1,000 crore TASMAC (state-owned liquor corporation) scam allegation, the fight between the BJP and DMK appeared to be intensifying.

The DMK regime has been at loggerheads with the BJP-led Centre over several issues including the non-release of education funds by the union government and the proposed delimitation exercise is a fresh point of disagreement.

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