The share of Tamil Nadu, AP, Telangana, Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal and a few other States in the Lok Sabha would reduce, if the freeze of 1971 population basis relaxed, Constitutional amendments urgently needed to counter this

To

Shri M K Stalin

Chief Minister

Tamil Nadu

Dear Shri Stalin,I write this in continuation of my letter of  

27th February 2025 addressed to you and other Chief Ministers, pointing out how relaxation of the freeze of 1971 population basis for delimitation would reduce representation of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, West Bengal and a few other States in the Parliament and the utmost urgency on the part of such States to come together and press the Centre to process a Parliamentary enactment to extend the validity of the Constitution (Eighty-fourth Amendment) Act, 2001 and the Constitution (Eightyseventh Amendment) Act, 2003, so as to ensure that reduction in the representation of the seven States in the Parliament may not become a fait accompli (https://countercurrents.org/2025/02/delimitation-woes-constitutional-amendments-urgently-needed/)

I am happy that you have taken the initiative to form a common platform to bring all the concerned States together and discuss the modalities of safeguarding their rights of representation in the Parliament. I am particularly happy that Shri Navin Patnaik, former Chief Minister of Odisha has readily agreed to join hands with you in this effort (https://www.deccanchronicle.com/southern-states/tamil-nadu/bjd-chief-naveen-patnaik-confirms-attendance-at-stalins-meeting-on-delimitation-1866242)

I hope that the other five States (West Bengal, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala)  also join you in discussing this matter and putting up a common front to press the Centre to act quickly for getting the necessary amendment to the Constitution enacted by the Parliament, before it becomes too late.
I feel disappointed that the present political leadership in Andhra Pradesh, evidently constrained by its partnership with the NDA at the Centre, has not shown the same concern and urgency that Tamil Nadu and Odisha have displayed (https://www.indiatoday.in/india/andhra-pradesh/story/nara-lokesh-backs-nda-on-delimitation-says-andhra-pradesh-wont-make-it-an-issue-like-other-states-2690793-2025-03-08)

I sincerely hope that AP’s political leadership will rethink their stand, place the long-term interests of the people of Andhra Pradesh above short-term political considerations and join the common political front of yours to press for the necessary Constitutional amendments. Otherwise, it is the people of the State who will stand to lose in the long run.

At the proposed meeting on delimitation, in addition to discussing the urgency of the Centre getting the validity of the freeze of 1971 population basis extended through a Constitutional enactment in the Parliament, I request you also to consider alternative bases for delimitation, as for example, the principle of “degressive proportionality” adopted the case of the European Union where a similar problem had been encountered (https://countercurrents.org/2025/02/delimitation-woes-constitutional-amendments-urgently-needed/)The population basis adopted for delimitation has far wider implications for the seven States, asfor example, in the case of horizontal devolution of funds by the Finance Commission among the States under the Constitution and if the freeze of 1971 population basis is relaxed, as we have already seen in the case of the Terms of Reference for the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Finance Commissions. 

In other words, those States where the rate of growth of population has declined either as a result of the overall environment of governance in those States, or otherwise, will stand to lose on many fronts, for no fault of theirs, if population alone were to be adopted as the basis for political representation in the Parliament, devolution of funds among the States under Article 280 of the Constitution and so on. 

It is in that context that there is a strong case for the concerned States to come up with alternative ways to correct such a distortion.

Yours sincerely,

E A S Sarma

Former Secretary to the Government of India

Visakhapatnam