The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution urging the Union government to retain the Lok Sabha’s existing strength of 543 seats and implement 33% reservation for women in legislative bodies without allowing delimitation to alter the state’s parliamentary representation.
The resolution comes amid efforts at the national level to build consensus on constitutional changes concerning women’s reservation and delimitation. Tamil Nadu leaders have expressed concern that a fresh delimitation exercise based on population could reduce the political representation of southern states that have successfully controlled population growth.
Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay urged members across party lines to support the resolution, warning that any future constitutional amendment on delimitation could have a lasting impact on Tamil Nadu and other southern states.
DMK leader and Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin backed the demand, saying the freeze on delimitation should be extended for another 25 years. He stressed that Tamil Nadu should not be adversely affected in the name of redrawing constituencies.
However, the resolution faced opposition from the BJP, AIADMK, PMK and DMDK. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said his party had no objection to redrawing constituency boundaries for administrative purposes but opposed the resolution on delimitation, while supporting the proposal for women’s reservation.
BJP legislator Bhojarajan also opposed the resolution, questioning the need to pass it in haste while the proposed delimitation legislation remained under consideration.
The resolution has highlighted the growing political debate over how future delimitation should balance population representation with the concerns of states that have achieved significant progress in population control, while also ensuring greater representation for women in legislatures.
