Southern States are expressing their apprehensions over the Delimitation on the basis of Population.
The government of India is likely to finish the Delimitation Exercise before the next General Elections in 2029.
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Delimitation is nothing but redrawing the boundaries of the legislative assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on the last census. The present Delimitation of constituencies was done based on the census of 2001.
The last Delimitation happened in 2008.
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The Delimitations that happened so far were only confined to equating the population among the parliamentary and assembly seats. The number of Assembly and Parliament Seats was not increased. But they can be increased after 2026 according to the law.
The Southern States are expressing doubts if the Parliament Seats will decrease as they have implemented strict Population Control measures while the seats in the North will increase as they did not take any such measures in the last two decades.
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Less number of Parliament Seats means less leverage on the Government of India. Already the National Parties are known for their Stepmother attitude towards the South if they were able to come to Power regardless of their performance in the South, it is detrimental to the interests of the Region.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is trying to Politicize the issue and use it in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections next year. He has called for a JAC of the Political Parties of the South against the Delimitation.
All the Parties except for the BJP and its allies attended the meeting. Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and KTR attended the meeting.
YS Jagan Mohan Reddy did not attend so as to not offend the BJP.
Chandrababu Naidu did not attend the meeting but he was one of the first leaders in the country to raise the issue long back. He is waiting until the Central Government announces modalities of the Delimitation.
The common demand across the board is not use the latest census as the basis for the Delimitation. But then it is easier said than done.
Article 81(2)(a) of the Indian Constitution says the Delimitation should be done as per the population considering the most recent census.
Accordingly, the Constitution should be amended to make changes to this Article. But a Constitutional Amendment requires Two-thirds majority in both the houses of the Parliament.
For amendments that seek to change the federal structure of the Constitution, the bill must also be ratified by at least half of the state legislatures with a simple majority. Most probably this bill will also need that.
Except for South, all the other states in the country will be benefited by the Delimitation on the basis of Population. So it is not easy to get it passed by the half of the states in the Country.
It will be easy if the BJP displays Political Will. But then, why would the Saffron Party do that?
The BJP is weak in the South except for Karnataka. If the Northern States gain, it will be easy for the BJP to retain Power. So why would it push to amend the Constitution?
The Second JAC meeting of the Southern States will happen next month in Hyderabad.
Whenever the Central Government reveals the Modalities of the Delimitation, even the allies of the BJP down South will also press the Panic Button. We will have to see where this issue ends!
