Telangana CM Revanth Reddy Slams Centre's Delimitation Plan, Calls It Attempt To 'Marginalise South India'

The delimitation exercise, set to take place before the 2029 general election, is essentially a strategy to marginalise South India and diminish its influence, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said today, adding that an action plan is being devised to counter it.

Reddy, who has received Tamil Nadu's invitation to attend an all-party meeting on the issue on 22 March, also claimed that the BJP lacks significant representation from the southern states and "wants to take revenge on these states".

Photo Credit: PTI

"We will thwart the conspiracies hatched by the BJP-led Central government against the southern states," he stated, reaffirming his full support for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, who is playing a key role in opposing the delimitation exercise.

In his invitation for the March 22 meeting, Stalin highlighted that existing provisions stipulate that the delimitation of constituencies should not be carried out until after the national census is conducted post-2026. However, the central government has "brought this process to the fore before the census".

Chief Ministers from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, West Bengal, Odisha, and Punjab have already been invited to join the Joint Action Committee (JAC) to address this issue.

Tamil Nadu has been at the forefront of opposing delimitation, which involves redrawing constituencies based on population.

The state argues that, while northern states will gain parliamentary seats due to their rising populations, Tamil Nadu's success in implementing family planning policies will ultimately penalise it by reducing its representation.

Both Chief Minister Stalin and his son, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, have urged newlyweds to prioritise having children.

"We will win 200-plus seats in Tamil Nadu in the 2026 elections. I request couples who are getting married to be concerned about childbirth as soon as possible. Our state implemented birth control first, and due to this, we are now facing issues," Udhayanidhi Stalin said yesterday after presiding over a mass wedding in Chennai.

He warned that Tamil Nadu, which currently has 39 parliamentary seats, could lose up to eight seats in the delimitation process, whereas northern states that have failed to control their populations could gain around 100 seats.

Last month, Union Minister Amit Shah addressed concerns over the issue, assuring that the number of seats in southern states would not be reduced.

"I want to reassure the people of South India that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept your interest in mind and will make sure that not even one seat is reduced. And whatever increase is there, southern states will get a fair share, there is no reason to doubt this... The Modi government has made it clear in Lok Sabha that after delimitation, on a pro-rata basis, not a single seat will be reduced in any southern state," he stated.