Siddaramaiah slams PM Modi, calls delimitation 'blatant assault on federalism'

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance that southern states wouldn't lose seats in the proposed delimitation exercise as "less like statesmanship and more like election-driven messaging."

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Siddaramaiah argued that Modi's comments were "timed conveniently with political calculations" in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

"Let us be clear: the issue has never been about whether the number of Lok Sabha seats of southern states increases. The concern is about how they increase - and how benefits disproportionately. Under the proposed expansion, while every state may see an increase, the rate and scale of increase clearly favour BJP-dominated states."

To further his argument, the chief minister reeled out statistics of the proposed seat matrix after delimitation.

He explained that the seats were expected to rise in Uttar Pradesh from 80 to 120 (+40), Maharashtra from 48 to 72 (+24), Bihar from 40 to 60 (+20), Madhya Pradesh from 29 to 43-44 (+14-15), Rajasthan from 25 to 37+38 (+12-13) and Gujarat from 26 to 39 (+13).

He contrasted this with the proposal for the southern states, noting that Karnataka was expected to rise from 28 to 42 seats (+14), Tamil Nadu from 39 to 58-59 (+19-20), Andhra Pradesh from 25 to 37-38 (+12-13), Telangana from 17 to 25-26 (+8-9) and Kerala from 20 to 30 (+10).

"The numbers are telling. The southern states together gain barely 63-66 additional seats, while just these seven BJP-fominated states gain about 128-141 seats - nearly double."

He lamented that even when the number of seats increases from the current 543 to 816, the proportion of seats from South India remains at a "unchanged and already modest" 24 per cent.

"States that performed better in population control and governance are being penalized, and Karnataka - a key driver of national growth - risks being deliberately sidelined. If our share does not improve while the numerical dominance of larger states grows, what exactly is Karnataka gaining from this??"

Pointing out that Uttar Pradesh (80) currently has 52 seats more than Karnataka (28), Siddaramaiah noted that this would increased to 78 as per the proposed exercise.

"Maharashtra's lead over Karnataka will expand from 20-30 seats. This is not just expansion; it is concentration of power."

Slamming the exercise as another "blatant assault on federalism," the chief minister said: "Having failed to win the trust of the southern people, the Modi Government is now attempting to weaken our voice through a manipulative restructuring of representation."

Background

In the 42nd Constitutional amendment in 1976, the then Indira Gandhi-led Congress government decided to freeze the number of seats as per the 1971 census to ensure that the southern states, which were more successful in implementing family planning programmes, were not penalised. This decision was continued by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government in 2002 through the 84th constitutional amendment, which stopped delimitation for the next 25 years. Accordingly, the delimitation is supposed to happen after the first census after 2026. With the census slated for 2026-27, the delimitation is likely to happen before 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, have opposed the proposed delimitation as a move that "undermines federalism."