Vijay Urges Modi to Freeze Lok Sabha Strength at 543 to Protect State Seats

Chennai: Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, urging the Union government to permanently freeze the strength of the Lok Sabha at 543 and safeguard the existing level of parliamentary representation among states.

In his letter, Vijay called on the Centre to maintain the current distribution of seats and bring in the necessary Constitutional amendments in line with a resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

“The existing number of Lok Sabha seats allocated to the states should be made permanent at the current level. Current distribution of seats among the States must be maintained. I kindly request you to consider the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and bring in necessary Constitutional amendments in this regard,” Vijay said.

The resolution in the state assembly received backing from the DMK and coalition partners of TVK, while it was opposed by the AIADMK, PMK, DMDK, and BJP. In addition to freezing seat counts, the resolution requested that the Union government implement a 33% reservation for women without expanding the total number of parliamentary seats beyond the present level.

Vijay drew the Prime Minister's attention to the state assembly's deliberations regarding the proposed delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies alongside the women's reservation policy. He raised concerns that conducting delimitation based on population growth would result in fewer seats for southern states.

“Any delimitation based on post-1971 population that alters the existing strength would cause lasting injustice to the southern states which have efficiently implemented the population control programmes, achieved good economic growth, carried out proper healthcare and public welfare schemes,” Vijay stated in the letter.