States with successful family planning to lose seats in delimitation: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh. Photo: Sansad TV via PTI

Amid the delimitation row, the Congress on Tuesday (March 11, 2025) said that the exercise will “penalise” States that have successfully implemented family planning and reduced total fertility rates.

In a lengthy post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh highlighted nine States may lose anywhere between one to eight Lok Sabha seats each, while States like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are going to gain 11 and 10 seats, respectively, if the delimitation exercise is undertaken.

“The States that lose seats are Tamil Nadu (8), Kerala (8), Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (8), Odisha (3), West Bengal (4), Karnataka (2), Himachal Pradesh (1), Punjab (1), and Uttarakhand (1). Assam, J&K, and Maharashtra don’t lose or gain any seat,” he said.

“The States that gain are Uttar Pradesh (11), Bihar (10), Rajasthan (6), Madhya Pradesh (4), Jharkhand (1), Haryana (1), Gujarat (1), Delhi (1), and Chhattisgarh (1),” Mr. Ramesh pointed out.

To back his claim, he cited an analysis by two scholars, Milan Vaishnav and Jamie Hintson, in March 2019 using data from the 2001 and 2011 Census.

It revealed what would happen to the distribution of seats if the estimated population of 2026 was used.

“The States that lose seats will do so simply because of their early success in family planning and reducing total fertility rates which has been the national objective. They will be penalised for it,” the senior Congress leader wrote on X.

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader M.K. Stalin, last Friday (March 7, 2025) wrote to his counterparts in Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Punjab, Odisha and party heads as well, inviting them to join hands with Tamil Nadu and be part of a Joint Action Committee (JAC) for an “uncompromising fight,” over delimitation of Lok Sabha seats, which he termed an unfair exercise.

Mr. Stalin proposed the inaugural JAC meeting in Chennai on March 22 and urged the leaders to join forces to chart a “collective course forward”. Writing to CMs and leaders, Mr. Stalin said reports suggest that the delimitation exercise is being considered based on population, with two potential approaches.

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“In the first case, the existing 543 seats could be redistributed among the States, and in the second case, the total number of seats could be increased beyond 800,” Mr. Stalin wrote in the letter.

As mandated by the Constitution, the delimitation process must be carried out after every Census to redraw the territorial boundaries and determine the number of seats in Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies.

However, the exercise was paused in 1976 until 2001 to encourage population control measures. The exercise was again put on hold in 2001 until the first Census after 2026.

• Delimitation means the process of fixing the number of seats and boundaries of territorial constituencies in each State for the Lok Sabha and Legislative assemblies.

• This ‘delimitation process’ is performed by the ‘Delimitation Commission’ that is set up under an act of Parliament.

• Such an exercise was carried out after the 1951, 1961 and 1971 Census.