'Deceptive': Congress slams Centre over delimitation, flags 'disadvantage' to South Indian states

New Delhi: The Modi government's plans to carry out delimitation with Census 2011 as its base for the early implementation of 33 per cent women's quota has now attracted criticism with the Congress on Wednesday claiming that the proposed formula is "deceptive" as it discriminates the south Indian states compared to the north when one takes the proportion of increase in seats.

The main opposition party is arguing that states with larger populations will automatically gain more seats and widen the representation gap if the strength of Lok Sabha and Assemblies are increased by 50 per cent.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh claimed that the government is proposing to increase the size of Lok Sabha and state Assemblies by 50% but the argument that the increase in seats across-the-board is equitable is "deceptive".

"Proportions may not change for the present but there are deeper implications that cannot be wished away. Any increase in the gap in the existing strengths of different states in the Lok Sabha will place South Indian states at a disadvantage," he posted on 'X'.

"For instance, currently Uttar Pradesh has 80 seats and Tamil Nadu has 39. With the proposed Bill, UP’s strength will zoom to 120 while Tamil Nadu will crawl up to at best 59. Similarly, Kerala will increase from 20 Lok Sabha seats to 30 seats, while Bihar will move from 40 to 60 seats. Overall, the southern states will gain 66 seats while the northern states will gain 200 seats," he said.

A similar argument was first given by Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy a couple of days ago even as the party has been demanding an all-party meeting after the current round of Assembly elections on April 29 to discuss the government's plans. The government had refused to entertain the demand, claiming that it will delay the implementation of the quota.

"Mr Modi is unilaterally preparing a law which will disadvantage smaller states in the South, Northeast, and West. The Chief Minister of Telangana has already raised an alarm. Others may very well follow as this proposal becomes officially public," Ramesh said.

Congress Lok Sabha Whip Manickam Tagore said the proposal is not just about adding seats but it is about who gains power and who gets pushed aside.

"A 'uniform' increase may sound fair, but in reality states with higher population automatically gain more seats, states that controlled population growth get relatively less and the balance of power shifts heavily toward the Hindi-belt. This is why many in the South feel this is not just policy but structural disadvantage. If numbers alone decide power, then northern states gain over 200 additional seats while the southern states risk being pushed to the political margins," he said.

The government, which had been maintaining that the quota could be implemented only after the completion of delimitation exercise linked to Census 2027 that could push the deadline beyond 2029, has been pushing for immediate roll out by using 2011 Census data. For this, it is planning to bring two bills to amend the Constitution and has initiated consultations with Opposition parties.

The ruling NDA does not have numbers on its side as Constitution amendment bills need two-third majority for its passage.