Postpone delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies: Anbumani

CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss urged the central government to postpone the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies across the country based on population by 25 years.

In a statement, Anbumani said that the central government has announced that a caste based population census will be started from March 1, 2027. "PMK has been demanding the government to conduct the census before the end of 2025 to end controversies in delimitation and to safeguard social justice. The announcement has caused confusion, " he said.

He added that the stand of PMK is to conduct a delimitation exercise by providing seats for the states based on present percentage of representation or remain status quo. "If the census is taken in 2027, delimitation will be done based on the results. People of Tamil Nadu fear that this would reduce their representation. The central government has a responsibility to alleviate the fear. Also, the details of caste based census will not be available for next five and a half years. This will endanger 69 per cent reservation, " he warned.

Saying that he has been demanding the state government to conduct caste survey to protect social justice in the state, Anbumani opined that caste survey conducted by the state government would provide more data that can be used to provide internal reservations.

"It is clear that the central government's caste based population census will be delayed. Understanding the seriousness of the issue, the state government should conduct a caste survey as per the Indian Statistics Act, 2008. Moreover, the central government should postpone the delimitation exercise," he urged.