India’s north-south divide over Modi’s plan to redraw constituencies

NEW DELHI: India’s wealthy southern states are up in arms against a proposal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to redraw boundaries of parliamentary constituencies, arguing it will result in less representation for them compared to the poorer, more populous north.

M.K. Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state, has invited politicians from over 40 parties to a meeting on Wednesday to amplify protests against the federal government’s plan to redefine constituencies in 2026 on the basis of the population.

India’s five southern states include Karnataka, of which tech hub Bengaluru is the capital, industrial powerhouse Tamil Nadu, and Telengana, one of the fastest growing among the country’s 28 states. Together, these five make up about 30% of India’s GDP.

“It is a danger aimed at reducing our representation and crushing our voice,” Stalin said of the so-called delimitation exercise, or redrawing constituency boundaries. He has said southern states, none of which are controlled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were being punished for curbing population growth.

The BJP is in power in India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh while an allied party controls neighbouring Bihar. The two states are among the country’s poorest and comprise about 26% of India’s 1.4 billion population, the highest in the world.

According to the constitution, India is supposed to conduct delimitation after every national census.

But India missed the 2021 census due to the pandemic and despite repeated demands, the Modi government is yet to launch the task of counting the estimated 1.4 billion population. The 2011 census had put the national population at 1.21 billion, but the number of elective seats in parliament remains at 543. A new parliament building, inaugurated last year, has allowed for 888 seats.

“Population size alone cannot be the metric to conduct delimitation,” Revanth Reddy, the chief minister of Telangana state, said late last month.

He said a new ratio for drawing up constitutional boundaries must be done after a census.

“We (southern states) should not be punished for controlling population and implementing reforms,” Reddy said. “The census will show the disparity and a new delimitation plan must be framed.”

Home (Interior) Minister Amit Shah has said southern states will not lose representation in the delimitation process.

“The Modi government has made it clear that after delimitation, on pro rata basis, not a single seat will be reduced in any southern state,” he said last week.

But Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who uses one name, said on X that Shah’s comments were “not credible”.