'South India will lose representation': Pinarayi urges Centre to have consensus on delimitation

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged the Centre to refrain from unilateral measures with regard to delimitation and take decision through consensus.

Vijayan said in a statement here on Friday that the Centre was yet to make a clarity on its argument that the southern states, that effectively implemented population control, would get additional seats on a pro-rata basis.

"The Union has not been able to clarify whether this pro-rata distribution will be based on the percentage of the current parliamentary seats or on the basis of population figures. In either case, the South Indian states are bound to lose representation," he said.

The statement, which was issued soon after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin invited Vijayan to the joint action committee meeting in Chennai on March 22, also urged that delimitation should be carried out without reducing the existing proportional share of seats of any state. "States that have effectively implemented population control measures should not be punished," he said.

Vijayan pointed out that the situation that prompted the Centre to postpone the delimitation process earlier was still existing. Hence the Centre should not move in hastily.

"The Centre should alleviate the fears of the South Indian states. It is the centre's responsibility to refrain from unilateral measures and preserve the essence of democracy and federalism," said Vijayan, who is also a CPI(M) politburo member.