Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has called for a joint political protest against the Centre’s decision regarding the reshuffle of Lok Sabha seats and to discuss the issue, he has convened a meeting on Saturday, inviting various political leaders, including CPI(M)’s West Bengal state secretary and Politburo member Mohammad Salim.
Stalin sent a formal invitation to Salim, but the latter declined due to his prior commitment to the CPI(M) central committee meeting in Delhi. Despite his absence, Salim expressed his support for the purpose of Stalin’s initiative.
“I will not be able to attend the meeting. But I have full support for the issue of the initiative,” said Salim.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has also extended invitations to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, as well as the governments of Punjab, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, and Odisha. Notably, Odisha is currently under Bharatiya Janata Party rule, yet Stalin has invited both the state government and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
Additionally, the TDP-led Andhra Pradesh government, an NDA ally, has been invited. Sources indicate that Stalin views the BJP’s seat reallocation efforts as an attempt to weaken states where Hindi is not the dominant language. To reinforce his stance, he has even sent invitations to BJP leaders from select states.
Meanwhile, the TMC will not send any representative for the March 22 meeting of states over delimitation called by Stalin in Chennai, said a source in the ruling party of West Bengal on Friday.
The source said the Trinamool Congress (TMC) feels the duplicate voter ID number issue is more important at present, as it may have an impact on the assembly elections in Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
Assembly election in Bihar is slated to be held later this year while polls in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are due in 2026.
Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal and Punjab are the seven states the Stalin-led DMK has reached out to for the meeting.
The opposition suspects that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government may significantly increase the number of Lok Sabha constituencies before the 2029 elections, aligning seat distribution with population changes. This move is expected to result in a considerable increase in Lok Sabha seats from the Hindi-speaking heartland while yielding minimal gains for the southern states. A section of the opposition fears that such a change would be advantageous to the BJP.
Stalin has alleged that the proposed seat reshuffle could disproportionately impact southern states, particularly Tamil Nadu, which he claims might lose up to eight MPs if seats are realigned strictly according to population. He further accused the Centre of undermining India’s federal structure through such decisions. However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has dismissed these concerns.
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