Key Points
DMK stages Parliament protest over seat redistribution
MK Stalin calls for united political front
Southern states risk losing parliamentary representation
Delimitation could shift political power dynamics
In the protest, DMK MPs Kanimozhi, T Siva, and Dayanidhi Maran, along with party MPs, were present while holding a banner written "Fair delimitation."
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin called for a united political front against the proposed delimitation exercise, urging various parties to join forces in opposing what he termed a "blatant assault on federalism."
On March 8, Chief Minister Stalin wrote to the Chief Ministers of seven states, both from National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ruling states and otherwise, to join him in the "fight against this unfair exercise."
He has written to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi, and heads of all political parties in those respective states to join him.
Congress has backed CM Stalin's stance on delimitation. However, the party has not yet confirmed whether they will join the Joint Action Committee meeting on March 22.
Congress leader P Chidambaram also expressed his fear that if delimitation is conducted, Southern states will lose 26 seats in the Lok Sabha, and their voices will not be heard.
"Delimitation is a serious issue. It was frozen in 1971. A census taken after 2026 will lead to delimitation, followed by re-determination of the seats. According to our calculation, if it is redistributed according to the current population of states, and the state's numbers are changed, our southern states, which have 129 seats, will come down to 103. The five southern states will lose 26 seats, whereas the populous states where population is growing will gain seats, especially UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan," Chidambaram said.
The second part of the budget session of Parliament began on March 10 and will continue till April 4.
