Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dismissed Union Minister Amit Shah's assurance that delimitation would not reduce the number of Parliament seats in any of the southern states, saying he could not trust his words.
"Shah's statement is not trustworthy and is only meant to create confusion," charged Siddaramaiah, adding that Shah's remarks were "vague" as he either lacked information or there was a "deliberate" intent to disadvantage the southern states.
Further, the chief minister demanded the Union home minister to clarify whether the delimitation would be based on the latest population ratio or in the existing number of Parliament seats.
Expressing apprehension over the Centre carrying out the delimitation based on the latest population data, Siddaramaiah said, "Over the past 50 years, southern states have effectively controlled population growth while progressing significantly in terms of development. But the northern states—Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh—have failed to regulate population growth and continue to lag in development. So, if delimitation is based on the latest census, southern states, including Karnataka, would see a reduction or stagnation in the number of Lok Sabha seats, while northern states would gain more seats. This will be severe injustice to southern states. Is the Union home minister aware of this?".
The chief minister reminded that the previous delimitation exercises were carried out based on the 1971 census as the basis, following Constitutional amendments to prevent any injustice to southern states.
Elaborating on the issue, the CM citing studies on the impact of delimitation said, "If delimitation is based solely on the latest census (2021 or 2031), the number of Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka is likely to decrease from 28 to 26. Similarly, seats in Andhra would drop from 42 to 34, Kerala’s from 20 to 12, and Tamil Nadu’s from 39 to 31. However, the number of Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh would increase from 80 to 91, Bihar’s from 40 to 50, and Madhya Pradesh’s from 29 to 33."
The CM also suggested that the Centre rely on 1971 Census for delimitation or the seats should be increased proportionally across all states.
Siddaramaiah also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intent was to "punish" the people of southern states for resisting his party's dominance in the region and recalled that BJP national president J.P. Nadda had warned the people of Karnataka during the Assembly polls that they would not get the blessings of Modi if they failed to support the BJP.
"Delimitation is the new weapon to silence the voices from the southern states in Parliament," alleged Siddaramaiah, exhorting Kannadigas to unite against the "injustice". He also informed that discussions were underway with neighboring southern states and that a coordinated movement would be launched by all the affected states.
Amit Shah, during a rally in Coimbatore, had stated that not a single Parliament seat in the South would be reduced pro rata during the delimitation.
Shah made the statement a day after Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin called an all-party meeting in Chennai on March 5 to discuss the delimitation exercise, which he referred to as a "sword hanging over the southern states”.
