‘Freeze Parliament delimitation exercise by another 25 years’: Opposition CMs urge in first meeting

The 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.

Leaders from opposition parties and chief ministers from opposition-governed states met in Chennai to discuss concerns regarding the proposed delimitation exercise to determine Parliament seats. In the resolution passed, the Joint Action Committee for fair delimitation expressed concern regarding the exercise. The JAC said the exercise lacked “transparency” and no consultation has been conducted with stakeholders.

Chief Ministers M.K. Stalin, Pinarayi Vijayan, A. Revanth Reddy, Bhagwant Mann and leaders from various opposition parties met in Chennai to oppose the Centre's delimitation move. 

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 in it.”

The leaders added Centre must not penalise states that effectively implemented population control measures. The leaders urged as the nation is yet to achieve population control targets, the freeze on delimitation exercise must be extended. “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,” they said.

The JAC urged the Centre should implement necessary amendments to protect states where population share has come down due to effective measures. The committee conceded to form a core committee consisting of MPs from the representative states to “counter any attempts by the Union government to undertake any delimitation exercise contrary to the principles”. 

The JAC also resolved that the core committee will present a memorandum to the prime minister in the coming days. States that attended the JAC will also pass resolutions in their respective legislative assemblies against the delimitation exercise.