Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is hosting the first Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting for the states to be affected by the delimitation exercise. The meeting is being attended by political leaders of all southern states, as well as Punjab and Odisha.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is hosting today the first Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting for the states to be affected by the delimitation exercise. The JAC meeting, which is being held at ITC Chola in Chennai, was called for after the all-party meeting on the same issue in Chennai on March 5.
Ahead of the meeting on Saturday, 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.”
The name cards of the political dignitaries were displayed in both English and their respective regional languages.
For example, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s name was written in English and Tamil, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s name appeared in English and Telugu, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s name was in English and Malayalam and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s name appeared in English and Punjabi.
Although Chief Minister Stalin addressed the gathering in Tamil, Kanimozhi and Udhayanidhi spoke in English. Kerala and Telangana Chief Ministers spoke in English.
STALIN: THREAT TO INDIA’S FEDERALISM
“We are not against delimitation, we are demanding a fair delimitation,” the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said.
Saying that the BJP historically sought to diminish the power of the state, Stalin called Amit Shah’s remarks in Coimbatore about delimitation on a “pro-rata basis” confusing. He pointed out that while the Union Home Minister assured that no state’s representation would be reduced, Shah did not provide any clarity.
He also moved a resolution to call the meeting ‘Fair Delimitation Joint Action Group.’
DELIMITATION LOOMS LIKE ‘SWORD OF DAMOCLES’
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan strongly criticised 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.
He warned that the exercise, if based purely on population, would significantly reduce parliamentary representation for Southern states, penalising them for successfully implementing population control policies.
Saying that the delimitation exercise was “hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles,” he said the exercise would disproportionately benefit northern states, where the BJP has greater influence. He said that Southern states, despite implementing national population policies effectively, would be unfairly punished.
“Now you have a smaller population, so now you deserve lesser funds and lesser representation. This is deplorable,” Vijayan said sarcastically.
You can hear Pinarayi Vijayan’s full speech here:
‘POPULATION SHOULD NOT BE THE ONLY CRITERION’
Former Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janta Dal chief Naveen Patnaik, who attended the meeting virtually, emphasized the “injustice of linking parliamentary representation solely to population figures.”
He argued that states like Odisha, which have successfully controlled population growth in line with “national priorities”, should not be penalised.
According to Patnaik, if these states had not acted. “India would have faced a population explosion, derailing our developmental progress.”
He said that Odisha had “successfully reduced its fertility rate” over the years and if the “2026 projected population” is used for delimitation, Odisha will “lose seats” in both the Lok Sabha and state assembly.
‘SOUTHERN STATES ARE BEING PENALISED’
Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, who spoke in English, said the southern states that have successfully implemented population control measures were at a disadvantage in the delimitation process.
BJP STAGES BLACK-FLAG PROTESTS
Meanwhile Tamil Nadu BJP held a black-flag protests across the state against the meeting. Addressing the media before the protest, state BJP chief Annamalai accused Chief Minister Stalin of doing political drama instead of discussing the state’s rights with other states, especially the issue of garbage dumping from Kerala and Mekedatu and Cauvery river water issue with Karnataka.
HOW THE JAC MEETING CAME ABOUT
The proposal for JAC came after the all-party meeting that was convened in Chennai’s Namakkal Kavignar Hall, where leaders from 123 political parties maintained Tamil Nadu’s opposition to delimitation, based solely on population figures from future censuses. However, the state BJP boycotted the meeting.
Stalin wrote to various chief ministers, including all south Indian states, along with his counterparts from West Bengal, Odisha and Punjab. Leaders from other parties from the invited states were also requested to attend the JAC meeting.
