TN all-party meet seeks delimitation on basis of 1971 Census for next 30 yrs

In a big show of unity on the delimitation issue, major Tamil Nadu-based political outfits attended an all-party meeting convened in Chennai by Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday. They unanimously demanded that any future redrawing of parliamentary constituencies should happen only on the basis of the 1971 Census because starting 1970, southern states had begun to show results on population stabilisation.

DMK chief Stalin piloted the resolution that said the 1971 Census should be the basis of the delimitation exercise and the outcome thus achieved should be frozen for the next 30 years starting 2026. The

resolution sought relevant constitutional amendments to make this happen. All

parties of Tamil Nadu, including the main opposition AIADMK, attended the meeting. Anbumani Ramadoss-led PMK was the only constituent of the BJP-led NDA to attend the meeting. Among parties to skip were the BJP, Naam Tamilar Katchi and ex-Union minister GK Vasan’s Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar).

The current constitutional position is that there will be no delimitation until the first census after 2026. This position flows from the 84th amendment of the Constitution, passed in 2001 which froze the boundaries of constituencies for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies until the first census after 2026. This meant that the current constituencies would remain in place until at least 2031.

The 84th amendment was required because provisos to Articles 82 and 170 (3) of the Constitution earlier provided that no fresh readjustment of constituencies could be undertaken until the figures of the first census taken after 2000 were published. These provisos were inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, as a measure to boost family planning norms. Since the first census to be taken after 2000 had already begun in 2001, the constitutional embargo on undertaking fresh delimitation would have lapsed when the census figures were published.

“Hence keeping in view the progress of family planning programmes in different parts of the country, the government, as part of the National Population Policy strategy, in 2001 decided to extend the then existent freeze on undertaking fresh delimitation up to 2026 as a motivational measure to enable the state government to pursue the agenda for population stabilisation,” officials said.

Besides the mention of 1971 as the benchmark year for any future delimitation, Stalin also mooted a Joint Action Committee of MPs from south Indian states to urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have a delimitation based on the 1971 Census.

“The committee will press ahead with our demands and raise awareness among the people,” Stalin said, adding that the delimitation exercise based on a fresh census would be a danger to federalism and to the rights of political representation of southern states which have managed their population well.

Tamil Nadu’s current percentage representation in Parliament is 7.18 and this should not change, said Stalin.