The first Joint Action Committee which met to deliberate on Parliamentary seats delimitation exercise in Chennai passed a resolution on Saturday urging the Centre to freeze the exercise by another 25 years. The chief ministers and leaders from the opposition parties urged the Centre not to penalise states taking effective steps to control population.
The resolution expressed concern regarding the exercise and said the exercise lacked “transparency” and no consultation has been conducted with stakeholders.
The JAC said, “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 to it.”
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin extended a warm welcome to all the Opposition leaders, including 4 Chief Ministers present in a show of Opposition unity. He said Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s assurance that South Indian states will not lose parliamentary seats due to the upcoming delimitation exercise as “ambiguous”.
He also warned that the fight for representation is crucial to prevent states from meeting Manipur’s fate. “Manipur has been burning for two years, and its people’s demands are being ignored because they don’t have the representation to make their voices count,” Stalin said, linking parliamentary strength to a state’s ability to seek justice.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, and BRS leader K T Rama Rao were among those welcomed by Stalin ahead of the discussions. MK Stalin has said that the next meeting on delimitation of constituencies will be held in Hyderabad, Telangana.
West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee did not attend the meeting, citing prior commitments. However, a letter expressing her support was read out during the session.
The meeting also saw the participation of representatives from Odisha’s BJD, Telangana’s BRS, the CPI, IUML, and some other regional parties. The Jana Sena Party, an NDA ally from Andhra Pradesh led by Pawan Kalyan, did not send any representative.
Ahead of the meeting, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin posted on X: “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 #FairDelimitation.” “I warmly welcome all Chief Ministers and political leaders to this meeting, united in our commitment to #FairDelimitation,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, the BJP is staging black flag protests across Tamil Nadu, alleging that the DMK and Chief Minister Stalin are using the delimitation meeting as a distraction from what it claims is “rampant corruption” in the state. “This is nothing but a political drama to divert attention from the DMK’s failures,” the party said in a statement.