TN Assembly: CM Vijay and Udhayanidhi Stalin united against delimitation

CHENNAI: Ending days of suspense over the DMK’s stand on delimitation, contained within which is the speculation over the Dravidian major’s future relationship with the Centre-ruling BJP, Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin on Wednesday supported Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s resolution urging the Union government to retain the existing strength of 543 Lok Sabha seats and implement 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha without linking it to the delimitation exercise.

Supporting the resolution while reiterating the DMK’s position that if delimitation was undertaken to implement women’s reservation, Udhayanidhi said it should be based on the 1971 Census. “If there is any change in Tamil Nadu’s proportion of MPs, its representation should not fall below 7.18 per cent,” he said. He also accused the TVK and its allies of changing their stand from supporting fair delimitation to opposing the exercise.

Eventually, even as all parties supported women’s reservation but differed on the means and methods to implement it, the Assembly adopted the resolution by voice vote, with the DMK, CPM, CPI, Congress, VCK and IUML supporting it, while the AIADMK, BJP, PMK, and DMDK opposed it.

Moving the resolution, Vijay said legislation providing for onethird reservation for women in Parliament and State Assemblies had already been enacted, but its implementation had been delayed.

“Delaying women’s reservation by linking it with the census and delimitation amounts to denying women their political rights. Women’s reservation should not be postponed or merged with the census and delimitation exercise,” he said.

Referring to the consultative meeting that he chaired on August 8, Vijay said parties had supported retaining the existing 543 seats and implementing women’s reservation in the ensuing election.

During the debate, AIADMK floor leader Edappadi K Palaniswami, BJP’s M Bhojarajan and A Ganeshkumar of the PMK opposed the resolution, arguing there was no urgency, as the Union government had not introduced a delimitation Bill. DMDK leader Premallatha Vijayakanth said she neither supported nor opposed delimitation, and questioned the rationale behind the Assembly adopting a resolution over a Bill that was not yet introduced. She also favoured increasing the number of LS seats by 50%.

Public Works Minister Aadhav Arjuna cited the possible impact of delimitation on Tamil Nadu’s representation as the rationale for bringing the resolution.