Chennai: The first Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting convened by the Tamil Nadu government in which Chief Ministers, a deputy Chief Minister and representatives of several states took part, on Saturday demanded freezing on delimitation for the next 25 years.
A resolution was adopted at the JAC meeting presided over by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M K Stalin here on Saturday.
It said the JAC expressed its deep concern on the lack of transparency and clarity in the impending delimitation exercise without any consultation with the various stakeholders.
While lauding Mr Stalin for taking up this initiative to safeguard the political and economic future of performing States in India, it said based on the various points and scenarios put forth by the representatives during the discussions, the JAC unanimously resolved that any delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government to improve the content and character of democracy should be done transparently, enabling political parties of all
the States, State Governments and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute in it.
“Given the fact that the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th and 87th Constitutional amendments was to protect / incentivise States which have implemented population control measures effectively and the goal of national population stabilisation has not yet been achieved, the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on 1971 Census Population, should be extended by another 25 years”, it said.
The resolution said States which have effectively implemented the population control program and consequently whose population share has come down, should not be penalised and the Union Government must enact necessary constitutional amendments for this purpose.
Resolving that the Core Committee consisting of Members of Parliament from the represented States will coordinate the parliamentary strategies to counter any attempts by the Union Government to undertake any delimitation exercise contrary to the principles mentioned above, it said the Core Committee of MPs would submit a Joint Representation on the above lines to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the ongoing Parliamentary session.
It was resolved that the Political Parties from different states represented in the meeting will initiate efforts to bring about appropriate Legislative Assembly resolutions in their respective States on the issue and communicate the same to the Centre.
“The JAC will also undertake necessary efforts to disseminate information on the history and context of past delimitation exercises and the consequences of the proposed delimitation among the citizens of their respective States, through a coordinated public opinion mobilization strategy”, it said.
