South revolts against move to alter parliament composition

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayanis the latest southern Indian leader to back his Tamil Nadu counterpart, MK Stalin, who opposes the federal move to redraw parliamentary constituencies based on the population.

- Ashraf Padanna

With ahealthy fertiltyrate, thesouthernstates fear losing their share of representation in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, if the federal government moves ahead with its plan.

Tamil Nadu information technology minister Pazhanivel Thiagarajan and Dr Thamizhachi ThankaPandyanmetthe chiefministerandinvited him to attend the March 22 meeting in Chennai.

Though Vijayan was silent on his participation, while expressing his solidarity, Telangana Chief Minister Revant Reddy and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar accepted Stalin’s invitation,

The country’s delimitation process was previ-ously conducted in 1952, 1963, and 1973.

However, the 42nd Constitutional Amendment implemented afreezeonthisprocessin|976, which remained in effect since.

This freeze wasintendedtopromotepopulation control, Due to ongoing disparities in population among the states, it was extended through the 84th Constitutional Amendment until the first census after 2020, which is yet to begin.