In Video Message, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin Warns Centre Against Delimitation That Adversely Affects Southern States

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday warned of a massive agitation if the BJP-led Union government takes any decision on the delimitation process that would adversely affect the southern states and offer more political power to the northern states.

In a video message, Stalin, while reiterating his allegation that secrecy shrouds the proposed delimitation process, said that without consulting any political party or any state, the BJP-led Centre was attempting to proceed unilaterally.

"This video serves two purposes: to speak about the grave danger that has now reached the very doorstep of Tamil Nadu, and to issue a clear warning to the Union BJP government. Even amid the relentless pace of election campaigning, this duty cannot be set aside," he said.

"The day after tomorrow, on April 16, a special session of Parliament is being convened. More accurately, it is being forcibly convened in the midst of elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. In this session, the Union government intends to bulldoze through a Constitutional amendment on delimitation," he said in the message.

He said that Tamil Nadu and other southern states had followed population control and family planning measures as advised by the Centre.

"But now these states face potential adverse consequences due to delimitation. Tamil Nadu would not remain silent if its rights were harmed or if southern states were unfairly impacted," he said.

"From the very beginning, we have consistently cautioned against this. We have created awareness among the people. Not only in Tamil Nadu, but across India, we brought together Chief Ministers of states that stand to be affected, as well as leaders of major political parties, and convened a Joint Action Committee meeting in Chennai,” he said.

Stalin said they had sought additional time for MPs from various parties to meet the Prime Minister and present their concerns personally but were denied.

He described the swift attempt to push through delimitation as “a blatant assault on democracy by the BJP government” and “a direct assault on the rights of states.”

“We do not even know how this delimitation exercise is going to be carried out,” he said.

“India will once again witness the spirit of the DMK of the 1950s and 1960s. Do not mistake this for a threat. This is a warning. Even if you choose to interpret it as a threat, it does not concern us. Yes, this is a warning issued from Tamil Nadu," he said.

"We are a people of self-respect. For us, principles matter. The rights of states matter. These are the living ideals bequeathed to us by Perarignar Anna and Muthamizharignar Kalaignar. If you imagine that you can ignore Tamil Nadu and move on as usual, you are mistaken,” he said.

What is delimitation?

Delimitation is the process of fixing or redrawing the boundaries of territorial constituencies for the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies to ensure that each seat represents a roughly equal number of voters.

The purpose of the process is to operationalise the democratic principle of “one person, one vote, one value” by adjusting boundaries as population densities shift over time.

Article 82 mandates Parliament to enact a Delimitation Act after each census, readjusting Lok Sabha seat allocation to States and dividing States into territorial constituencies.

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