Southern states on Thursday came together to raise concerns over the proposed delimitation exercise, urging the Centre to retain the 1971 Census as the basis for allocating Parliamentary seats.
After the meeting, Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the southern states had reached a consensus on the delimitation issue and had appealed to the Centre to continue using the 1971 Census for Parliamentary seat allocation.
Earlier reporting noted: Tamil Nadu CM Vijay keeps three requests before home minister Amit Shah – delimitation, NEET and… Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay on Thursday participated in the 31st meeting of the Southern Zonal Council along with other CMs of the region and made three key requests before Union home minister Amit Shah — one on delimitation, another on NEET and a third on drug control. “The meeting has gone well. We have raised various issues in the interest of all southern states. “What Kerala is saying is not correct on Mullaperiyar Dam, and we need to obey what the Supreme Court is saying. “The meeting went very well. We were able to push all our needs across to the Union government. The Council was hosted by the TVK -led Tamil Nadu government.
We have appealed to the Union Home Minister that the 1971 Census should be used and there should be no increase of seats in Parliament,” Shivakumar said.
“I have made a commitment to the state of Tamil Nadu before the Home Minister that whatever Mekedatu Dam water is there, even a single drop of water, except for drinking water of 5 TMC, the rest of the water will be left to Tamil Nadu itself,” he said, adding that the proposed dam would be built for the benefit of Tamil Nadu. On the Mullaperiyar dispute, Tamil Nadu Minister CTR Nirmal Kumar rejected the claims made by the Kerala government and said Tamil Nadu remained committed to following the Supreme Court’s directions. The dam has full stability,” the Law Minister said. It was a very useful meeting,” he said. “As the freeze on the allocation of Lok Sabha seats based on the 1971 Census approaches its end and the Delimitation Bill, 2026, is considered, there is a genuine and shared concern across the Southern States that delimitation based predominantly on populations may diminish our collective voice in Parliament,” he said. Amit Shah is the Chairperson of the Southern Zonal Council, while the Chief Minister of the concerned member state serves as Vice-Chairperson by rotation, according to the Union Home Ministry.
Earlier reporting noted: Along with Vijay , Karnataka chief minister DK Shivakumar and Andhra Pradesh’s N Chandrababu Naidu were also in attendance at the meeting at the Taj Fisherman’s Cove hotel in Kovalam, Chengalpet district in Tamil Nadu.
