YSR Congress party president and former Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the upcoming delimitation exercise be conducted in such a manner that no state experiences a reduction in its representation in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.
Jagan stayed away from the all-party meeting convened by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president and Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin in Chennai to discuss the delimitation issue. On March 12, Tamil Nadu Public Works Department minister EV Velu and Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson met Jagan and invited him to the all-party meeting on behalf of Stalin.
Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party president and deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan also abstained from the Chennai meeting, as they were alliance partners of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
“Though the YSRCP has never been part of the NDA, Jagan preferred to stay away from the all-party meeting in Chennai, as he doesn’t want to antagonise the BJP national leadership for now and prefers maintaining equi-distant from the BJP and the Congress,” a YSRCP leader said on condition of anonymity.
However, a party statement said YSRCP parliamentary party leader YV Subba Reddy sent a copy of the letter written by Jagan to Modi, to the DMK party leaders, suggesting that a fair and balanced approach is needed in the delimitation process.
In his letter to the PM, Jagan wrote that the reports that the Centre will follow 2026 census for the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies has caused severe anxiety for several states, particularly southern states, which fear that their representation will be diminished.
He said that the share of the southern states in the country’s population has reduced over the 40-year period between 1971 and 2011 and it has reduced even further over the last 15-year period, due to the sincerity of the southern states in implementation of the population control programme.
“While I thank for Union home minister’s assurance that delimitation exercise will be undertaken mindful of need to ensure proportionate increase of seats for all states, I wish to point out to an impediment to such a relaxation, because of Article 81(2)(a) of the Constitution of India,” he said.
Jagan pointed out that Article 81(2)(a) of the Constitution says “there shall be allotted to each state a number of seats in the House of the people in such a manner that the ratio between that number and the population of the state is, so far as practicable, be the same for all the states.”
He urged the PM to ensure that the Constitution be amended to give effect to such proportionate increase in seats for each state. “This would ensure that no state would have to encounter any reduction in its representation in the House of the People, in terms of the share of the seats allocated to that State in the total seats,” he added.
Jagan said given the gravity of the issue that has the potential to disrupt the social and political harmony in the country, the PM should give an assurance to remove such discrepancies and allay the fears of several states.