“As the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, I bring to everyone’s attention that the Lok Sabha delimitation exercise based on the 2026 Census is extremely dangerous. Southern States like Tamil Nadu have done a great job in controlling population growth. But if that is the reason why our strength in Parliament will decrease, if it can suppress our voice, how can it be justified?" Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister, MK Stalin, wrote in a post on X recently.

Such a post from Stalin is hardly surprising, as the DMK’s entire politics over the years has centred on regionalism and whipping up passions by deviously raking up the North-South divide at every available opportunity.

In sharp contrast, this is what the Union Home Minister, the highly erudite Amit Shah, said: “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, the Southern states will get a fair share, there is no reason to doubt this." These reassuring words by Amit Shah, spoken at the inauguration of the BJP office in Coimbatore, Tiruvannamalai, last week, completely debunk the rabid lies spread by Stalin and the DMK.

Why is Stalin always propagating the North-South divide? Well, it is to polarise the narrative and appease his Dravidian vote bank. The question that arises, therefore, is—what exactly is delimitation?

Delimitation is simply the process of redrawing the boundaries of parliamentary and state assembly constituencies to reflect changes in population. It is conducted to ensure fair political representation based on demographic shifts and also determines how many seats will be reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), both in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. By questioning delimitation, Stalin is, in effect, questioning fair representation and the progressive idea of balancing population growth with parliamentary strength.

Delimitation is completely legitimate and constitutionally sanctioned vide Articles 82 and 170 of the Indian Constitution, wherein the number of seats and their boundaries are adjusted after each Census. This task is carried out on the basis of the latest Census data, by the Delimitation Commission, which is set up through a law passed by the Parliament. Constitutional requirements aside, delimitation aligns with the democratic principle of “one citizen, one vote, one value" and hence, DMK’s fear-mongering on this count is absolutely unacceptable.

A pan-India, full-fledged delimitation exercise was carried out three times, namely in 1952, 1963, and 1973, after the 1951, 1961, and 1971 Census exercises, respectively, with another delimitation occurring in 2002. Over the years, as India’s population grew, so did the number of Lok Sabha seats.

For example, as per the 1951 Census, the Lok Sabha had 494 seats based on India’s overall population at that time, which stood at 36.1 crore (7.3 lakh people per seat). After the 1961 Census, the Lok Sabha seat tally rose to 522, with an overall population of 43.9 crore (8.4 lakh people per seat). Similarly, after the 1971 Census,........

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