Fri Mar 07 10:46:22 UTC 2025: ## Tamil Nadu CM Rallies Opposition Against Centre’s Delimitation Plan

**Chennai, March 7, 2025** – Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is leading a charge against the central government’s proposed delimitation exercise, calling it a blatant attack on federalism and a punishment for states that have successfully controlled population growth. He has invited seven chief ministers – including Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) and Mohan Chandra Majhi (Odisha) – to a meeting in Chennai on March 22nd to formulate a joint strategy.

Stalin’s initiative aims to create a united front against the planned redrawing of electoral boundaries, which he argues will disproportionately reduce the number of Lok Sabha seats allocated to southern states that have effectively managed population control. He contends that this will diminish their representation in Parliament. The meeting will also include senior political leaders from various parties within each state.

Stalin’s concerns stem from the potential for a significant reduction in Tamil Nadu’s parliamentary representation based on post-2026 population data. He points out that a 2002 amendment froze changes to the number of Lok Sabha seats until at least 2026, but the current plan contradicts this. He further criticizes Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s assurances that southern states will not lose seats, arguing that this doesn’t address the issue of northern states potentially gaining more seats, thus still reducing the relative influence of southern states.

This opposition follows a previous appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the use of 1971 population data for delimitation, followed by a 30-year freeze to incentivize population control in other states. This appeal was part of a resolution passed by Tamil Nadu political parties, excluding the BJP and its allies. The resolution also demanded that any increase in the total number of MPs maintain the proportional representation of states as established by the 1971 census. The ongoing debate has intensified ahead of next year’s Tamil Nadu state elections, with the DMK even urging newlyweds to have more children to counter the potential reduction in representation. The central government maintains that the delimitation exercise will not disadvantage southern states and that the new National Education Policy does not mandate Hindi language learning.

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