Chennai, Aug 8:
Congress MP Manickam Tagore has alleged that the Union government’s move to reintroduce the delimitation Bill in the მიმდინარე Parliament session would undermine India’s sovereignty and federal structure, and weaken democratic representation, particularly in southern States like Tamil Nadu.
In a statement, he said an earlier version of the Bill, introduced on April 12, was defeated in the Lok Sabha by INDIA bloc parties. He accused the BJP-led Union government of attempting to bring back a revised proposal by projecting a 50% increase in parliamentary seats.
Explaining the implications, Tagore noted that Uttar Pradesh currently has 80 MPs, which could rise to 120 under the new proposal, while Tamil Nadu’s strength may increase from 39 to 58. However, he pointed out that the gap between the two States would widen significantly—from 41 to 62 seats—thereby diluting the political influence of southern States.
He stressed that in a diverse federal system, democratic representation cannot be determined solely by numerical proportions. He recalled that amendments introduced in 1976 under Indira Gandhi and in 2001 under Atal Bihari Vajpayee had effectively frozen the expansion of Lok Sabha seats, and alleged that the BJP is now attempting to remove that freeze.
Tagore further argued that conducting delimitation before completing a caste-based census would make it difficult to properly determine reservation constituencies for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women. Overall, he warned that the proposed delimitation exercise would erode the political rights of Tamil Nadu and other southern States.
Calling it a threat to the core principles of the Constitution—federalism, democracy, social justice, equality and secularism—he said any political party from Tamil Nadu that supports the Bill, directly or indirectly, would be committing a grave injustice and betrayal of the State’s interests.