CHENNAI: Chief Ministers from Southern states, along with leaders from other regions, have demanded a 25-year extension on the freeze for Lok Sabha seat delimitation. This demand was made during a Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting hosted by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in Chennai and attended by his counterparts Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), A. Revanth Reddy (Telangana), and Bhagwant Mann (Punjab), besides Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar. The meeting also asserted that states which have effectively controlled population growth shouldn’t be penalized by reducing their numbers in Parliament.  

The leaders argued that population-based delimitation would unfairly penalize states that have successfully implemented population control measures, reducing their representation in Parliament. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan criticized the Union government’s push for delimitation, calling it politically motivated. Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann accused the BJP of attempting to weaken democracy by reducing seats in states where it struggles to win.  

Ahead of the scheduled meeting in Chennai, Stalin wrote in a post on X, welcoming all the participating leaders: “Today will be etched in history as the day when states that have contributed to our nation’s development came together to safeguard its federal structure by ensuring #FairDelimitation.”  

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan strongly criticized the Union government’s push for the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies, calling it a move driven by “narrow political ends” rather than constitutional principles.  

CM Pinarayi warned that the exercise, if based purely on population, would significantly reduce parliamentary representation for Southern states, penalizing them for successfully implementing population control policies.  

Speaking at the meeting, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said, “This shameful act of BJP to reduce the seats in the states where they can’t win is undemocratic. We won’t allow the saffron party to succeed in its nefarious designs to weaken democracy by adopting such ways.”