Chennai, March 24 Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday appealed to the Centre to convene a special session of Parliament in June to pass constitutional amendments for delimitation, increasing the number of seats, and ensuring that the current representation of states continues for the next 30 years.
Citing news reports indicating that women's representation in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies is being considered based on the 2011 Census, Stalin said, "This step is not in line with the 2023 Union BJP government's Constitutional (128th Amendment) Bill, and its earlier position that this historic initiative would only be undertaken after delimitation is carried out based on the 2026 Census."
In a social media post, he said, "This (initiative by the Centre) is most likely aimed at securing electoral gains in the upcoming Assembly elections in four major states."
He called pushing such an important step when the Model Code of Conduct is already in force "unprecedented."
As the President of the DMK and the proud inheritor of the Dravidian legacy that has spearheaded women's empowerment for more than a century, he said, "I fully support this initiative of Women's Reservation without any preconditions, while at the same time stressing our right to fair delimitation."
"Our consistent stand is that the current proportional representation of states should not be disturbed under any circumstances. To achieve this, the delimitation and distribution of constituencies among states must include a constitutional provision ensuring the same for the next 30 years," he emphasized.
He requested that, given the MCC and the preoccupation of political parties, a special session of Parliament be convened in early June to pass these constitutional amendments for delimitation, increasing the number of seats, ensuring the continuation of the current representation of states, and guaranteeing that such representation would continue for the next 30 years.