Delimitation Blocked: Is This Actually a Big Loss for the South?

Narendra Modi-led NDA Government faced a roadblock in the Lok Sabha for the first time as the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, related to the delimitation and women’s reservation could not be passed.

Congress-led Opposition claims it stopped the BJP’s sinister idea to weaken the South so they can easily gain ground in the Hindi Heartland and the North.

However, experts like Jaya Prakash Narayana say the Opposition may have done more harm than good for the South by stalling this amendment.

The Government tried to implement delimitation using the 2001 Census, a period when family planning was not aggressively adopted in the South. Moreover, the Government even agreed to increase seats in all states by 50% which would have maintained the current proportional representation for the South at the Center.

Now that this amendment is stalled, delimitation will use the 2026 Census, reflecting population figures after the South’s strict population control.

According to current estimates, seven states will likely lose 35 seats when delimitation uses the 2026 Census: AP (-5), Telangana (-3), TN (-10), Karnataka (-2), Kerala (-7), Odisha (-4), and WB (-4).

Four states will likely gain 34 seats: UP (+12), Bihar (+10), MP (+5), and Rajasthan (+7).

If this happens, the BJP will be the real beneficiary of the action taken by the Congress-led Opposition. This means the Opposition scored a spectacular self-goal.

This is precisely the problem with the Congress Party. They have been acting without a proper strategy and are always playing into the hands of the BJP. Hence, they are failing to connect with the people.

Meanwhile, the BJP is trying to frame this as an issue of Congress versus Women’s Reservation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the nation, said, “I apologize for failing to bring the amendments of the Nari Shakti Adhiniyam. Despite striving with all our might, we were unable to achieve success in this matter; I seek the forgiveness of the mothers and sisters of the nation”.

The Prime Minister is trying to turn women voters against Congress and the other Opposition Parties.