Central Indian states laggard on population control to gain in delimitation exercise: Manish Tewari

New Delhi: Only the states in central India would gain if the delimitation exercise is held on the principle of 'one vote, one value' as they have been laggards on population control, Congress leader Manish Tewari said and demanded the framing of a new formula for it.

The Lok Sabha MP made the demand amid a row over the delimitation exercise with an all-party meeting in Tamil Nadu opposing the population-based delimitation of Parliamentary constituencies.

In a post on X, Tewari said if the delimitation exercise is done on the current principle of 'one vote, one value', then the southern and northern states would lose Lok Sabha seats and only the states in central India would gain.

"If delimitation is held on the current principles of one Citizen, one vote and one value, then not only the south even north India would also lose as the share of the northern states as a percentage share of the total strength of the Lok Sabha and even Rajya Sabha will go down further.

"For example, the number of Lok Sabha seats of both Punjab and Haryana post delimitation would be 18. Currently, Punjab has 13 seats and Haryana 10. However, as proportion to the overall strength of the Lok Sabha, both states would lose further. In any case, they are marginalised and they would become even more inconsequential," Tewari said in his post while citing a media report.

Even within the northern states how the distribution of seats would play out is still an open-ended question, he noted.

"Would Punjab accept parity with Haryana in number of seats? Would Himachal Pradesh accept that its number of seats would remain the same? Would Jammu and Kashmir accept a marginal increase from six to nine seats," the Congress MP from Chandigarh posted.

"The only gainers in this exercise would be Middle India that would see a substantial increase in the number of Parliament seats as they have been laggards in population control" Tewari said, adding, "A new formula for delimitation has to be found or delimitation has to be frozen in perpetuity."

A row has erupted over the exercise, with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin stepping up the pressure on the Centre by proposing that the 1971 Census be the basis for delimitation of Parliamentary constituencies for 30 years starting 2026 and favoured a Joint Action Committee involving all southern states to press for related demands.

At an all-party meeting on delimitation here that was attended by the main opposition AIADMK among others, Stalin, moving a resolution, said that in the event of an increase in the number of seats in Parliament, the 1971 Census should be the basis for it and that appropriate Constitutional amendment should be done.