Bhubaneswar- A two-member DMK delegation, comprising Tamil Nadu Minister TRB Rajaa and MP Dayanidhi Maran, met with Leader of Opposition and former Odisha Naveen Patnaik to discuss the contentious issue of delimitation and invite him on behalf of MK Stalin to the delimitation meeting scheduled to be held on March 22 in Chennai
Talking to Media after meeting with Patnaik, Maran said he shares our concerns and our fears that unfair population based exercise will not be good for our states. There are seven states – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Punjab which will be directly affected by delimitation in which our share will be reduced and the share of the northern states will increase. Because these states are developing states, which control the population and we have to pay a price for it. He has said that he will attend the meeting on March 22. He will fight with us…”
Senior BJD Members, Pranab Prakash Das, Debi Pattnaik and Sanjay Dasbarma were also present during the meeting at Naveen Niwas
Odisha will be affected by the delimitation excercise. The ratio that we should have got in Parliament and Assembly will not happen proportionately. However, a party meeting in this regard will be held soon in Bhubaneswar to analyse the Pros and Cons of delimitation and how it will impact Odisha,” said senior BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has been vocal against this population based exercise and has written to his counterparts in several states, inviting them to join the JAC and fight against the “unfair exercise” of delimitation. Stalin proposed the inaugural JAC meeting in Chennai on March 22, urging leaders to join forces and chart a collective course forward.
Notably, delimitation can be explained, as the process of fixing the number of seats and boundaries of territorial constituencies in each State for the Lok Sabha and Legislative assemblies. It also includes determining the seats to be reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in these houses. Article 82 and 170 of the Constitution provide that the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative assemblies as well as its division into territorial constituencies shall be readjusted after each Census. This ‘delimitation process’ is performed by the ‘Delimitation Commission’ that is set up under an act of Parliament. Such an exercise was carried out after the 1951, 1961 and 1971 Census.
