Chennai, Aug 12 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, C Joseph Vijay, on Wednesday urged the Union government to permanently retain the strength of the Lok Sabha at 543 seats, amid concerns over the impact of a future delimitation exercise on southern States. He also called for implementation of the 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha from the next general election, scheduled for 2029, without linking it to an increase in the number of parliamentary constituencies.
CM Vijay said the women’s reservation should be implemented on the basis of the existing Lok Sabha strength of 543 seats. He stressed that implementation of the quota should not be postponed further on account of delimitation or other procedural requirements.
“Reservation for women is not a concession, it is their democratic right,” Vijay said, underlining the need to ensure greater representation of women in Parliament.
The Chief Minister also raised concerns over the possibility of States that successfully implemented population-control measures losing their relative representation in Parliament if Lok Sabha constituencies are redrawn on the basis of population.
During a resolution tabled in the Assembly, Vijay said it was the responsibility of the Union government to ensure that States which had effectively implemented population-control programmes were not placed at a disadvantage during any future delimitation exercise.
Tamil Nadu and several other southern States have expressed apprehension that a population-based redistribution of Lok Sabha seats could reduce their proportional representation compared with States that recorded higher population growth.
The resolution seeks to address those concerns by calling for the permanent freezing of the total number of Lok Sabha seats at the existing 543 while ensuring that the constitutional provision for 33 per cent reservation for women is implemented within the present strength of the House.
After Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar invited members to place on record whether they supported or opposed the proposal, Legislators belonging to the Left parties spoke in favour of the resolution during the debate. The DMDK also welcomed the move to safeguard Tamil Nadu’s parliamentary representation and supported the demand for immediate implementation of the 33 per cent reservation for women.
—IANS
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