Tamil Nadu government moves resolution to keep Lok Sabha strength at 543 amid delimitation row

A day after the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed resolutions seeking the abolition of NEET, the state government on Wednesday moved another resolution on delimitation and women's reservation, calling for the Lok Sabha's existing strength of 543 seats to be retained.

Chief Minister Vijay moved the resolution, which, according to reports, urges the Centre to maintain the Lok Sabha-Rajya Sabha ratio at 2.2:1 by keeping the number of Lok Sabha seats fixed at 543.

What Tamil Nadu wants on delimitation

The resolution also called for the immediate implementation of 33% reservation for women within the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats.

At the same time, the state government proposed that constituencies be redrawn based on the 2011 Census and that the total number of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats be increased through a constitutional amendment.

"All the states including Tamil Nadu and the people / elected representatives of the union territories have not had their population counted for more than 50 years. The next census to count the population was supposed to be held in 2026.

Therefore, since the delimitation of constituencies has not been carried out for the last 50 years, based on the 2011 population census, the constituencies should be delimited and the number of Lok Sabha and Assembly members should be increased from 550 to 850 by bringing in a constitutional amendment Bill," the resolution stated.

The government has argued that delimitation based on a census conducted after 1971 could affect the parliamentary representation of southern states that have successfully implemented population-control measures.

“Even though Tamil Nadu has built a strong Tamil Nadu by effectively implementing population control measures on the basis of the 1971 population census, the representation of the southern states, including Tamil Nadu, in Parliament will be permanently affected. This is an undeniable truth,” the resolution added.

Tamil Nadu's push against NEET

The latest resolution came a day after the Assembly passed two separate resolutions opposing NEET.

The TVK-led government called for the medical entrance examination to be scrapped, arguing that it was against social justice and state rights.

"This examination has completely lost the trust of students across the nation. Therefore, this examination system must be abolished,” he told the assembly.

The government also moved a resolution against the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment (FCRA) Bill.

Both resolutions were passed amid a walkout by BJP members.