Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday called on the leaders of seven states to form a Joint Action Committee against the Union government’s proposed delimitation exercise to redraw the boundary of parliamentary constituencies, ANI reported.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader urged his counterparts in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, West Bengal, Odisha and Punjab to join the committee for its first proposed meeting on March 22 in Chennai.

Delimitation is the process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies. Article 82 of the Constitution states that after every census is completed, the allocation of Lok Sabha seats to each state must be adjusted based on changes in their population.

“Those states who controlled their population and achieved superior governance indicators will face an unjust punishment – reduced representation in the very forum where national policies are determined,” Stalin wrote in a letter to his counterparts.

He called the proposed delimitation exercise a “blatant assault on federalism” and said that “the essence of India’s democracy rests on its federal character – a system that gives each State its rightful voice while honouring our sacred unity as one nation”.

The Tamil Nadu chief minister clarified that he was not against the delimitation process. “What we oppose is its weaponisation against States that fulfilled their national duties, thus punishing progress,” he wrote.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday extended his party’s support to Stalin.

Ramesh told ANI: “No state should be penalised for its success in family planning. Kerala and Tamil Nadu - the South Indian states were the first states in India to have success in family planning. The first success was in Kerala. It reached replacement levels of fertility in 1988. Tamil Nadu reached it in 1993. Then, after that, we had undivided Andhra, we had Karnataka, and then, of course, other states followed. States that have not taken family planning seriously should not be rewarded disproportionately in terms of increases in seats.”

The composition of the current Lok Sabha is based on the 1971 census. According to the 84th Amendment Act of 2001, the constituency boundaries were frozen until the first census after 2026, which would be due in 2031.

However, southern states have expressed concern that population-based delimitation could give an undue advantage to northern and central states in the Lok Sabha.

In February 2024, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution against the proposed delimitation.

On February 25, Stalin had claimed that the delimitation exercise could cost his state eight Lok Sabha seats.

A day later, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the southern states would not lose a single Lok Sabha seat on account of delimitation.

Following this, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claimed that Shah’s assurances were not credible. Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy alleged the BJP was conspiring to weaken southern states politically and financially.

Stalin’s letter on Friday came after an all-party meeting in Chennai on Wednesday, where political rivals, including the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, ally Congress, the Left front and the Opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, came together to oppose delimitation.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, Tamil nationalist party Naam Tamilar Katchi and the Tamil Maanila Congress boycotted the meeting.

Stalin had said the 1971 census must remain the basis for delimitation of Lok Sabha for the next 30 years during the all-party meeting.

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