Opposition ups ante on delimitation, wants freeze on LS seats extended by 25 yrs-OxBig News Network

Intensifying its campaign against the impending delimitation exercise, the DMK-led Opposition on Saturday demanded a further 25-year extension of the existing freeze on the number of Lok Sabha seats based on the 1971 Census data.

A resolution passed at the first meeting of the Joint Action Committee formed to debate the issue reflected the demand for the freeze with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin-led opposition grouping saying its MPs will, in the ongoing Parliament session, jointly represent these demands to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP was quick to dismiss the Opposition’s “show of unity” over delimitation as “theatrics” and said it was a ploy to hide corruption and deflect attention from key issues.

The demand of the Opposition for a freeze is significant because under the current position, which emanates from the 84th Amendment to the Constitution passed in 2001, the LS strength is frozen at 543 seats (drafted by the third Delimitation Commission set up after the 1971 Census) until 2026. Before this, the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution had also frozen the Lower House strength at 543 MPs until 2000. The 84th Amendment was necessitated as the freeze was to end after the 2001 Census and needed to be extended.

Politics or concern, RSS asks parties

RSS joint general secretary Arun Kumar on Saturday asked those discussing the delimitation process whether they had any political agenda or were genuinely concerned about it. Stressing the need for trust as a sine qua non for democracy, he said, “Those raising the issue must be asked if the delimitaiton exercise has started.” He said the issue should be discussed when the exercise starts.

The resolution adopted at the JAC meeting today said any delimitation exercise held to improve the “content and character” of democracy should be carried out transparently, enabling political parties of all states, state governments and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute.

The JAC, which saw the participation of four chief ministers — MK Stalin (Tamil Nadu), Pinarayi Vijyan (Kerala), Bhagwant Mann (Punjab) and Revanth Reddy (Telangana) — and one Deputy Chief Minister, DK Shivakumar (Karnataka), said, “Given the fact that the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th and 87th Constitutional amendments was to protect and 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 the 1971 Census population, should be extended by another 25 years.”

It added that the states which effectively implemented the population-control programme and whose population share fell, should not be penalised.

The Centre must enact necessary constitutional amendments to ensure this, it said.

While noting that the parties from different states represented at the meeting would initiate efforts to bring appropriate Legislative Assembly resolutions in their respective states on the issue and communicate the same to the Centre, the resolution said the core committee of MPs from the states represented in the JAC would submit a representation to the PM soon.

“The core committee consisting of Members of Parliament from the represented states will coordinate the parliamentary strategies to counter any attempts by the Centre to undertake any delimitation exercise contrary to the principles mentioned above,” the resolution said with the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit staging a demonstration waving black flags against the meeting and state chief K Annamalai calling the gathering a “drama”. Tamilisai Soundararjan, former Governor and BJP leader, alleged that the CMs who attended the meeting did so to hide their “misgovernance”. “There are a range of corruption charges in Telangana and Kerala,” she said.

The JAC meeting began at 10 am in Chennai and culminated at 12.30 pm today. The next meeting will be held in Hyderabad.

 Leaders slam delimitation exercise

“The BJP wants to increase seats in states where it wins. In Punjab, it doesn’t win. Of the 13, it doesn’t have a single seat. Are southern states being punished for reducing their population? Bhagwant Mann, Punjab CM

“Delimitation is like the sword of Damocles, driven by narrow political interests.”

— Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala CM

“Federal democracy is under threat due to delimitation.”

— DK Shivakumar, Karnataka Dy CM

“Delimitation based only on population criterion unfair.”

— Naveen Patnaik, former Odisha CM

“If the BJP carries out delimitation based on population, the South will lose its political voice and the North will make us secondary citizens.”

— Revanth Reddy, Telangana CM

“Today will be etched in history as the day when states that have contributed to our nation’s development came together to safeguard its federal structure by ensuring fair delimitation.”

— MK Stalin, Tamil Nadu CM