The Opposition has found a common ground to unite against the Centre on the issues of voter ID duplication and fears of the delimitation. The members have been raising these issues in the parliament as the second part of the budget session convened on Monday.
As the House dispersed for the Holi break, the issues are likely to cause strain between the treasury and opposition benches in the Parliament when it again meets on Monday. The parties are seeking a discussion within the house on the issues. Nine opposition MPs moved an adjournment motion in the upper house, which were disallowed by the deputy chairman.
Within Rajya Sabha, RJD MP Manoj Jha raised the electoral photo identity cards (EPIC) row during the Zero Hour saying a large number of duplicates have been found across the country. Trinamool MP Derek O'Brien also asked the chair to allow discussion on the issue.
In Lok Sabha, DMK MP Kathir Anand raised the issue of impending delimitation. He said the exercise penalises states like Tamil Nadu and asked whether the union government was “deliberately betraying” Tamil Nadu through delimitation, despite their success in implementing the population control policies. Delimitation should not become a secret weapon, he said. He said that the states like UP and Bihar which did not take population measures stand to gain through delimitation with increased number of seats, he added.
Earlier, DMK leaders including Dayanidhi Maran met Biju Janata Dal chief Navin Patnaik to rally his support on the issue of delimitation. The DMK has convened a meeting of the like-minded parties on March 22 to discuss the issue in Chennai. The Joint Action Committee has been seeking support from other parties. On Wednesday, DMK leaders also met YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy and invited him to the meeting. Similarly, another DMK delegation met Karnataka CM Siddaraiah and also invited him.
The argument against the delimitation exercise is that it will take into account the existing population of states to reorganise the Lok Sabha seats. In the process, the southern states which have progressively followed the population policies will stand to lose against their northern counterparts who have much higher populations. If the exercise is carried out in this manner, the northern states will gain more Lok Sabha seats thus tilting the balance of power in their favour limiting the value of southern states at the Central level in the government formation and allocations of resources and monetary help.
Tamil Nadu government has also been in war of words with the BJP leaders and union ministers on the issue of National Education Policy which promotes a language formula as the state government has refused to implement it terming it against the federal principles.
The Opposition MPs had also staged a walkout in Lok Sabha after Congress MP Manish Tewari raised security concerns over a renewable energy project in Gujarat. The Congress and DMK members staged a walkout saying the union minister Pralhad Joshi did not provide a satisfactory answer.
As the EPIC matter has been heating up, the Election Commission has also invited suggestions from all national and state political parties by April 30, to discuss “any unresolved issues.” The ECI had also written to the individual parties presidents inviting them for an interaction to further “strengthen” electoral processes in accordance with the established law.
