The Union Government should bring in appropriate Constitutional amendments for the permanent freeze of Lok Sabha strength
Chennai: Urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring in necessary Constitutional amendments to not bring in the proposed delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly in the country, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay sent him a copy of the resolution passed by the State Assembly on Wednesday in that regard, along with a kind request to consider it.
In a letter to Modi on Thursday, Vijay said the resolution wanted the total members in the House of People (Lok Sabha) to be fixed permanently at 543 and the existing number of seats allocated to the States made permanent at the current level.
The State Assembly had also urged the Union Government to ensure that women received the benefit of one third seat reservation for them in the upcoming general elections to the Lok Sabha and the subsequent general elections to the State Assemblies maintaining the current distribution of seats among the States.
Bringing to the kind attention of the deliberations of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on the issue of proposed delimitation of Parliamentary and State Assembly Constituencies and the implementation of 33% reservation for women to Modi, he said the resolution was passed by the Assembly on August 12.
Vijay said the resolution was passed in the background of the proposed constitutional amendment relating to delimitation and the determination of the number and distribution of seats in Lok Sabha on the basis of population figures.
In the Assembly deliberations, it emerged that the Southern States might lose significant number of Parliamentary seats after the Population Census Operation, if the Article 81(2)(a) was not applied as it happened in 1967 when the number of Member of Parliament seats in Tamil Nadu was reduced from 41 to 39, he said.
Any delimitation based on post 1971 population that altered the existing strength would cause lasting injustice to the Southern States that had efficiently implemented the population control programmes, achieved good economic growth and carried out proper healthcare and public welfare schemes, he said.
The Union Government should bring in appropriate Constitutional amendments for the permanent freeze of Lok Sabha strength and for the protection of existing level of parliamentary representation smf the implementation of 33% women reservation from the ensuing Parliamentary election on the basis of existing 543 strength, he said.
