Chennai, Aug 12 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay will move a special resolution in the Assembly on Wednesday opposing any delimitation exercise that could reduce the state’s relative representation in Parliament and urging the Centre to retain the strength of the Lok Sabha at 543 seats.
The resolution comes days after a consultative meeting of Members of Parliament chaired by CM Vijay in Chennai on August 8 discussed the possible implications of delimitation for Tamil Nadu and other southern states.
The meeting decided to press for freezing the Lok Sabha strength at 543 and protecting the existing share of parliamentary seats among states.
According to the Assembly agenda, CM Vijay will introduce the government resolution when the House meets this morning. The proposed resolution notes that the allocation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats among states and Union Territories has remained linked to the 1971 Census for several decades. It refers to a constitutional amendment Bill that failed in Parliament in April 2026, which had proposed ending the long-standing freeze on delimitation, undertaking a fresh exercise based on the 2011 Census and substantially increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha.
The resolution expresses concern over reports that a similar constitutional amendment could be introduced again. It argues that any redistribution of seats based on population figures recorded after 1971 could adversely affect the parliamentary representation of Tamil Nadu and other southern states that have achieved better population control.
It maintains that states which effectively implemented population-control programmes encouraged by the Union government, while recording economic growth and improving healthcare and welfare indicators, should not be disadvantaged through delimitation.
The resolution will urge the Centre to permanently retain the Lok Sabha strength at 543 and freeze the existing allocation of seats among states, thereby maintaining their current proportional representation.
It will also seek to preserve the existing Lok Sabha-Rajya Sabha representation ratio and call for implementation of the 33 per cent reservation for women in the 2029 Lok Sabha election based on the existing 543 constituencies.
The Assembly is expected to urge the Centre to ensure that one-third reservation for women is extended to subsequent state Assembly elections as well.
The House will also take up the government’s response to the general discussion on the revised Budget for 2026-27 and the revised Agriculture Budget for the financial year.
–IANS
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