Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday “gave guarantee” that no injustice will be done to any state while allyaing delimitation fear that northern states may gain at the expense of the south Indian states.Speaking in Lok Sabha, during the The Delimitation Bill, 2026, along with the women quota bill, the Prime Minister said: “I give guarantee no injustice will be done to any state- from East to West, North to South.”The Congress on Thursday alleged that the government wants to “bulldoze” delimitation in the name of women’s reservation, and asserted that if it is really committed to implementing the women’s quota law it should do so immediately on the basis of the current strength of Lok Sabha. The opposition party also alleged that the BJP was using delimitation as a “political weapon” to increase its influence. Initiating the discussion on the three bills moved to amend the women’s quota law and set up a delimitation commission, Gaurav Gogoi said the bills are “anti-women, anti-caste census, anti-Constitution and anti-federal structure of the country”.Opposition leaders across states flagged concerns over the proposed Delimitation Bill, warning it could weaken federal balance and reduce representation of several states. BJD chief Naveen Patnaik, in a letter to Odisha CM Mohan Majhi, said the Bill, which seeks to raise Lok Sabha strength from 543 to 850, may increase Odisha’s MPs to 29 but reduce its share, calling it a “grave injustice”. In Andhra, Congress’ Y S Sharmila urged CM Naidu to oppose the move, saying it could strengthen northern dominance and hurt Andhr Pradesh’s financial prospects. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan termed the exercise a threat to equitable representation, cautioning that population-based delimitation may penalise states that controlled population growth.Vijayan also flagged the lack of consultation and said the govt’s move could undermine cooperative federalism, while backing women’s reservation but opposing its linkage with delimitation.While it has been criticised, the change creates room for the government not to use the 2011 Census for Lok Sabha delimitation. It addresses the fear of southern states that a delimitation exercise based on the latest Census will reduce their share of Lok Sabha seats, while leaving northern states aggrieved, as their share of Lok Sabha seats has remained frozen despite population growth. For instance, Vidhi’s calculations showed that, based on the 2026 population, Tamil Nadu will have 31 Lok Sabha seats and Uttar Pradesh 90. More populous northern states have reason to complain because their representation is sought to be kept frozen. In any case, a Uttar Pradesh lawmaker has more voters to represent than his counterpart from Tamil Nadu or Kerala.
