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Tamil Nadu passes resolution against delimitation
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution urging the Union government to freeze the number of Lok Sabha seats at 543 and ensure 33% women’s reservation in legislative bodies on the basis of this
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution urging the Union government to freeze the number of Lok Sabha seats at 543 and ensure 33% women’s reservation in legislative bodies on the basis of this. The move that comes amidst efforts by the government to mobilise the required numbers in Parliament to legislate the constitution amendment bill that seeks to fast track the reservation, already cleared by both Houses of Parliament, by delinking it from the ongoing national census and subsequent delimitation, and instead prescribe an alternative mechanism for delimitation.
The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government led by chief minister C Joseph Vijay was supported by the main opposition party in the state assembly, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and its own allies such as the Left parties and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK).
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), the late actor-politician Vijaykanth founded Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) opposed the resolution.
In April 2026, the Union government introduced The Constitutional (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, in Parliament to remove the 50 year freeze on delimitation and take up delimitation exercise based on the 2011 census and increase the number of Lok Sabha members from 550 to 850 but failed to garner the numbers required to pasws this. The main reason for this was a lack of clarity about how the delimitation exercise would be carried out; while the government said that each state would see its Lok Sabha seats increase by 50%, the bill itself was silent on this.
To be sure, if the government were to change the bill to incorporate this, some of the opposition to delimitation could vanish.
Vijay said if the aforementioned constitutional amendment bill is brought again, the parliamentary representation of southern states including Tamil Nadu which have successfully controlled population growth would be permanently affected.
“We request all honourable members of this assembly, across all party lines, to pass this resolution unanimously,” he said.
Leader of Opposition and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin said the firm stance of the DMK was that under no circumstances should Tamil Nadu be affected in the name of the delimitation.
Udhayanidhi said, “The critical issue here is this — the freeze on the delimitation exercise from 1971 to 2026 must be extended for another 25 years.”
Responding to the resolution, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said, “There is nothing wrong with redrawing the boundaries of the Lok Sabha and legislative assembly constituencies for administrative convenience.”
“AIADMK rejects the resolution regarding delimitation brought forward by the TVK government for political reasons. We support only the resolution concerning the reservation for women,” he said.
BJP’s lone legislator Bhojarajan (Nilgiris) questioned the TVK government on why the resolution is being tabled in a “hurried manner”.
In his remarks, Bhojarajan said, “Honorable Speaker Sir, I do not understand why so much hurry in this (for passing a resolution)...It (delimitation bill) is still only in a preliminary draft stage and under consideration.”
“The BJP does not accept bringing such a resolution in immense haste. We oppose this resolution,” he said.
