Continuing his tirade against the proposed delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies, which threatens to reduce the number of seats for Tamil Nadu and other southern states, Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Thursday slammed the exercise as being against the spirit of the Constitution and charged the Modi government with systematically eroding the very foundation of Parliament.
“More alarmingly, this exercise will blatantly skew representation and tilt the balance of power in favour of northern states dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party, while silencing the voice of South India,” Stalin said in a strongly worded post on his ‘X’ handle. He added that increasing the number of seats would reduce Parliament from a forum for debate and accountability to a hollow ritual, with members being deprived of adequate time to speak and represent their people.
“This is not a neutral exercise; it is a calculated political restructuring,” he said, citing his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah and expressing serious concern over the Northern states gaining nearly double the seats while the South’s share remains stagnant at around 24 per cent. According to him, “This is nothing short of penalising states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and Telangana for their success in population control.”
Stalin pointed out that, besides Siddaramaiah, the Chief Ministers of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, and Telangana, Revanth Reddy, have warned that this would distort federalism and concentrate power in a few regions. This move, besides being a direct contradiction of the BJP’s own slogan of ‘minimum government, maximum governance’, would inflate expenditure, burden taxpayers and dilute the quality of parliament’s functioning, he argued. Further, the timing also raises suspicion, he said, asking, “Why push such a far-reaching decision in the middle of state elections?”
In his view, “This appears to be yet another political manoeuvre aimed at shaping electoral narratives, much like earlier attempts to influence women voters ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections.” He also pointed out that ignoring the voices of the states and bypassing meaningful consultation amounts to unitary overreach, undermining federalism, and is against the spirit of Article 1 of the Constitution, which defines India as a Union of States.
Making the DMK’s support for 33 per cent reservation for women unequivocal and absolute, he demanded that it be implemented without increasing seats and without punishing states that have acted responsibly. “If the intent is genuine, nothing prevents immediate implementation within the existing framework,” he maintained. There is no guarantee for OBC women’s representation, he bemoaned and said, “The haste to proceed without even considering the outcome of the first comprehensive caste census expected in 2027 further exposes the lack of sincerity. This is not empowerment, it is exclusion dressed up as reform.”
“There is complete opacity on the basis for delimitation, will it rely on 1971 figures from a pre-population control era or the 2021 census? Conflicting signals and vague assurances only deepen suspicion,” he said. Describing it as “unilaterally driven exercise designed to concentrate power, weaken Parliament, marginalise the South, and undermine social justice,” Stalin asked, “The nation deserves answers: why this haste, why shift goalposts, and who truly stands to benefit?”