Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday opposed the central government’s “unilateral” step to delimulate parliamentary constituency, termed it “haste” and declared his support for the conference organized by Tamil Nadu against it.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo MK Stalin has organized a conference in Chennai on 22 March against the “unilateral parliamentary constituency delimitation” by the BJP -led central government and Vijayan expressed his solidarity with the event.
According to a statement issued from Vijayan’s office, Tamil Nadu IT Minister Palanwell Thiaga Rajan and MP Dr. Tamizhachi Thangapandian personally met him and invited Stalin for the conference, followed by a statement “Constituency delimitation: Unity against unilateral step”.
However, it was not clearly stated in the statement whether Vijayan would attend the conference or not. Later, in another statement issued by his office, Vijayan said that the central government should take a decision on the delimitation of parliamentary constituency keeping in mind the opinion of all.
Sharing his concerns on the issue, the CM said that the delimitation should not result in the existing proportional part of the seats of any state in Parliament. He also said that the delimitation practice should not result in a decrease in the seats of those states which have effectively implemented population control measures, as it would be similar to punishing them for their efforts.
Vijayan said that it would be unfair to reduce the proportional representation of states that reduce their population according to population control programs and family planning policies launched by the Central Government after independence.
Argued, “It would be similar to rewarding states that have failed to implement these measures.” He said that earlier was delimited in 1952, 1963 and 1973 and the process was stopped until the first census after 2000, which was to be held in 2001 through the 42nd Constitution Amendment in 1976.
“This was done to encourage population control. Since the population inequality continued between the states, this ban through the 84th Constitutional Amendment was extended till the first census after 2026 i.e. till 2031.” That situation still remains. He said, “This new hasty step of the Central Government has been taken without keeping this in mind.”
Vijayan also said in the statement that the Center claims that after delimitation, the southern states will get additional seats on a proportional basis, “This cannot be considered true.” He said that the central government has not clarified whether proportional distribution is based on the percentage of existing parliamentary seats or based on population data. He claimed, “In any situation, the representation of the South Indian states will end.” He demanded that the central government resolve the concerns of the southern states. He emphasized that it is the responsibility of the Central Government to “avoid unilateral measures and preserve the essence of democracy and federalism”.
