CM Vijay moved a special resolution placing four demands before the Centre — a permanent 543-seat Lok Sabha, frozen inter-state allocation, a protected population ratio, and women's reservation from 2029.
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed a special resolution moved by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay urging the Union government to permanently freeze the strength of the Lok Sabha at 543 seats and protect the existing distribution of parliamentary seats among the states. It came a day after the House adopted resolutions seeking NEET abolition and opposing the FCRA Amendment Bill.
The resolution placed four specific demands before the Union government:
| # | Demand |
|---|---|
| 1 | Total Lok Sabha strength permanently retained at the current 543 seats |
| 2 | Inter-state allocation of seats frozen at the existing proportion of representation |
| 3 | The existing 2.2:1 ratio between population and states maintained |
| 4 | 33% women's reservation implemented in the 2029 Lok Sabha election on the existing 543 constituencies |
Speaking in the House, Vijay pressed for women's reservation to be brought in without further delay. "The 33% reservation for women should be implemented in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections itself, based on the existing 543 constituencies," he said, noting that more women than men had voted in Tamil Nadu.
That framing matters to the wider argument. Women's reservation, provided for by the 106th Constitutional Amendment in 2023, has been understood to take effect only after a delimitation exercise following a Census. By asking for it on the existing 543 seats, the resolution seeks to decouple the two — securing the reservation without accepting the redistribution.
Moving the resolution, Vijay noted that seat allocations to states and union territories had been protected from population-based redistribution for decades, with the 1971 Census forming the basis of the long-standing freeze. He referred to a constitutional amendment bill defeated in Parliament in April 2026, which had sought to remove restrictions on delimitation, redraw constituencies on the 2011 Census and substantially increase the Lok Sabha's strength — and said reports that a similar proposal could return had renewed concern in the state.
States that had effectively implemented population-control programmes promoted by the Union government should not be penalised by losing relative representation, he argued, adding that states which had achieved stronger economic growth and better healthcare and welfare indicators also deserved protection. The resolution closed by asserting that the Union government has a duty to ensure southern states are not adversely affected by delimitation.
For background on the freeze and what the projections suggest, see our explainer on delimitation and Tamil Nadu.
Delimitation Tamil Nadu Assembly 543 Seats Women's Reservation August 12, 2026