Two of India’s most prominent non-BJP chief ministers Tamil Nadu’s MK Stalin and Telangana’s A. Revanth Reddy escalated their attack on the Central government over the proposed delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies on Tuesday, April 14, warning of massive protests and demanding a halt to what they characterised as an exercise designed to permanently diminish the political weight of southern India in Parliament.
The sharp remarks came two days ahead of a special three-day sitting of Parliament, during which the Modi government intends to introduce the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 a legislation that would expand the Lok Sabha from 543 seats to 850, with 815 seats from states and 35 from Union Territories. The expansion is proposed on a pro rata population basis, using the 2026 census as the benchmark.
Stalin: “This Is Tamil Nadu’s Final Warning”
Chief Minister Stalin, who is simultaneously managing a high-voltage state election campaign ahead of Tamil Nadu’s April 23 polls, issued a video message that he acknowledged transcended the immediate electoral context. He posted on X: “If anything is done that harms Tamil Nadu or that disproportionately enhances the political power of northern states, we in Tamil Nadu will not remain silent. Tamil Nadu will rise. Tamil Nadu will register its protest with full force.” He added “Honourable Prime Minister, this is Tamil Nadu’s final warning.”
Stalin pointed to a fundamental injustice at the heart of the pro rata proposal. Southern states had, as directed by successive Union governments, implemented population control and family planning measures over decades. To now use raw population as the sole criterion for seat allocation, he argued, is to punish states for compliance. “Is this now the punishment for having done what was asked of us with discipline?” he asked.
He noted that his concerns were not partisan or new in March 2025, a Joint Action Committee of opposition-ruled states convened in Chennai had passed a formal resolution against the proposed exercise. Despite repeated demands for a PM-level assurance in Parliament that southern states would not be harmed, no response had been received.
The special Parliament session, he added, was being “forcibly convened in the midst of elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal” a timing he called deliberate and provocative.
Revanth Reddy: A “Hybrid Model” and Letters to Five CMs
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy mounted a parallel offensive on the same day, writing separate open letters to the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and Puducherry, calling for coordinated southern resistance. He also wrote directly to Prime Minister Modi urging an all-party meeting and a consensus-based approach.
Revanth’s central argument was arithmetical and stark. Under the proposed pro rata model, the current gap between Uttar Pradesh (80 seats) and Tamil Nadu and Puducherry combined (40 seats) would widen from 40 seats to 60 seats — structurally cementing the South’s political disadvantage. UP would go from 80 to 120 seats; Tamil Nadu and Puducherry would go from 40 to 60. “This expands the political gap and reduces southern states to second-class citizens who will have no meaningful role in government formation at the Union,” he wrote.
–Samuthiran
