MK Stalin ‘rejects’ delimitation process at all-party meet, seeks status quo on Lok Sabha seats for 30 years

Delimitation will “weaken” Tamil Nadu and be a “threat to India’s federal structure”, he said at the all-party meeting.

The resolution for the same was passed at the meeting in Chennai on Wednesday.

Parties including the governing Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Congress, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam and the Communist parties attended the meeting. The Bharatiya Janata Party, Naam Tamilar Katchi and Tamil Maanila Congress boycotted it.

According to the resolution passed at the meeting, delimitation based “exclusively” on population figures from the upcoming census will affect “the political representation rights of Tamil Nadu and other South Indian states”.

“It is entirely unjustifiable to reduce parliamentary representation of Tamil Nadu and other south Indian states solely because they have proactively implemented population control measures in the national interest,” the resolution read.

The all-party meeting has also resolved that the freeze on delimitation based on the 1971 population census “which extends until 2026, should be extended for the foreseeable future”.

In a separate address at the all-party meeting, Stalin said that the “status-quo should continue for at least three decades".

The all-party meeting also resolved to constitute a Joint Action Committee (JAC) of different political parties of Tamil Nadu.

The JAC will extend an invitation to political parties in other south Indian states to join in “the fight against delimitation”, the resolution read.