The consultation meeting convened by CM Vijay at Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai on Saturday concluded with 19 MPs from the TVK alliance passing a unanimous resolution declaring the Union government's proposed delimitation exercise "unnecessary" and "an injustice" to Tamil Nadu, asserting that the state's current 39 Lok Sabha seats must be protected.
What the Resolution Demands
The resolution passed at the meeting sets out two specific demands: that the Lok Sabha's current strength of 543 seats remain unchanged, and that the existing allocation of seats among the states not be disturbed. The concern running through the southern states — Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana among them — is that a purely population-based redistribution would reward states with higher population growth and reduce the relative weight of states that invested for decades in education and population control.
Who Attended
The 3-5 PM meeting was attended by 12 Congress MPs (nine from the Lok Sabha and three from the Rajya Sabha), including Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Manickam Tagore, Vishnu Prasad, Vijay Vasanth, Jothimani, P. Chidambaram and Praveen Chakravarthy. Also present were VCK's Thol. Thirumavalavan and Ravi Kumar, MDMK's Vaiko, IUML's Nawaz Kani, and one MP each from the CPI and CPI(M).
A Boycott by Most MPs
Of Tamil Nadu's 57 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, 37 — including those from the DMK, AIADMK, DMDK and MNM — did not attend. DMK MPs had said in advance they would participate only if CM Vijay first convened a separate all-party meeting on the Cauvery and Mekedatu issues, a demand Vijay had rejected in the Assembly a day earlier. DMK parliamentary group leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi reiterated the party's own position that any delimitation exercise must be based on 1971 Census figures and that the current seat-freeze must be extended for another 30 years beyond 2026.
Responding to the absence, Vijay said it was unfortunate that a party which had held power in Tamil Nadu six times, and whose founding leaders had made sacrifices for the state's interests, had chosen not to take part in a discussion on an issue affecting Tamil Nadu's representation in Parliament. Among those who did attend, four of the Congress MPs present were invited to address the meeting, and it was from the floor that the suggestion emerged for the Legislative Assembly to pass its own formal resolution against delimitation — the step Law Minister Nirmal Kumar subsequently confirmed the government would take.
Delimitation Kalaivanar Arangam Members of Parliament CM Vijay August 8, 2026
The consultative meeting of MPs on delimitation, chaired by CM Vijay at Kalaivanar Arangam.
The all-party MPs' meeting chaired by CM Vijay at Kalaivanar Arangam.
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