Southern states gain allies

JAC tells Centre to freeze Parliamentary constituencies by 25 more years

Chennai: The DMK-led Joint Action Committee meeting to ensure "fair delimitation" on Saturday urged the Centre to extend the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies, based on the 1971 Census population, by another 25 years and decided that MPs would submit a joint representation to press for demands to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the ongoing Parliamentary session.

A resolution adopted in the JAC meeting said 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.

"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," it said.

Population control is key

The states which have effectively implemented the population control programme and consequently whose population share has come down, should not be penalised and the Centre 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 the Prime Minister of India during the ongoing Parliamentary session," the resolution said.

The political parties from different states represented in the meeting will initiate efforts to bring appropriate legislative assembly resolutions in their respective states on the issue and communicate the same to the 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."

The DMK, in the meanwhile, commenced its reach out exercise on delimitation by way of advertisements in the social media.

Are you genuinely concerned on delimitation: RSS

Bengaluru: RSS joint general secretary Arun Kumar on Saturday asked those discussing the delimitation process have any political agenda or they were genuinely concerned about it.

"In my opinion, those who are taking part in the discussions on the delimitation should introspect whether it's their political agenda or they are genuinely thinking about the interest of their region," Kumar said, during a press briefing.

"Let them (Stalin and others) think about it and you (media) should ask them if the delimitation process has actually started," he added.

"Neither the census has started nor the discussion over the delimitation has been initiated (by the Centre). Even the Act has not been drafted yet," he pointed out.

Noting that delimitation is a constitutional process in India and elections are conducted under a democratic process, Kumar said delimitation happens for elections under a law.

He explained that the delimitation happened in 2002 after an Act was promulgated. Prior to that, a similar exercise was carried out in 1972.

He also recalled that in 2002 the freezing of parliamentary seats was done and the matter was closed.

“Set up an expert panel to draw up the political and legal action plan. Name the panel as 'Joint Action Committee for fair delimitation'. We are not against delimitation, we are for fair delimitation.”

M.K. Stalin, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu

“The delimitation of LS seats was hanging like the sword of Damocles. The BJP government is going ahead on the issue without any consultation.”

Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister, Kerala

“The BJP wanted to increase seats in states where it wins and reduce in states where it loses. In Punjab, the BJP does not win.”

Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister, Punjab

“If BJP carried out delimitation exercise based on population, south India will lose its political voice, and north will make us secondary citizens.”

A Revanth Reddy, Chief Minister, Telangana

"Our stand is that population should not be the only criterion to determine the number of seats in the highest representative body of our country.”

Naveen Patnaik, Chief, Biju Janata Dal

"There is no clarity on delimitation, and we are concerned. Delimitation should be done, but in a fair manner. We are in touch with the DMK.”

Supriya Sule, MP, NCP (SP)