The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which sought to increase the number of parliamentary constituencies, was defeated in Lok Sabha on April 17. Thereafter, the Union government withdrew two other bills, including one related to the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies. The delimitation bill generated significant political debate across the country, especially in Tamil Nadu.In parliament, the BJP linked delimitation with women’s reservation, as it sought to put opposition parties in a fix – opposing it would invite the charge of being against women’s reservation. But how did these debates and strategies influence the election campaigns in Tamil Nadu? What explained the opposition to the delimitation bill in the first place?Su. Venkatesan, Member of Parliament from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), representing the Madurai constituency in Lok Sabha, delivered a strong intervention in Parliament opposing the delimitation bill. Speaking to The Wire, he elaborated on the reasons and how its proposals were linked with the BJP’s political tactics in Tamil Nadu. Edited excerpts from the interview:During the Tamil Nadu assembly election campaign, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) parties claimed that Tamil Nadu Members of Parliament have joined hand to defeat the women’s reservation bill. How would you respond to the allegation?No one in India opposed the women’s reservation bill. In fact, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government brought that law in parliament two years ago, only two members opposed it. All political parties expressed their support. However, I see what is being claimed about Tamil Nadu parties as a very deliberate and subtle conspiracy by the BJP to link women’s reservation with delimitation and the census.There is no objection from anyone to women’s reservation in the very next election, based on the current number of parliamentary seats. There is absolutely no connection between women’s reservation and delimitation. By linking this reservation with the very complicated delimitation plan, the BJP’s intention that women should not get reservation has been exposed. The NDA alliance’s false propaganda will not work among the people. All people of the country, including Tamil Nadu, know that the women’s reservation bill was passed in Parliament in 2023.Why do you think the BJP refuses to bring women’s reservation based on the current number of seats?Doing so would mean that many male members currently holding parliamentary positions would lose their seats. The BJP cannot accept that. The specific truth is that they are unwilling to give up the positions they hold to make space for women [representatives]. This is an expression of the male chauvnism deeply rooted in the BJP and Rashtriya Swayam Sevak’s right-wing ideology.Is a fair delimitation for all states truly impossible?Delimitation has always been a complicated issue. The report of the States Reorganisation Commission of India, set up in 1953 under Justice Fazal Ali, raised an important and surprising question even then. The eight northeastern states and Goa make up 32% of the total number of states in India. However, these states hold only 4.77% representation in parliament. Yet a single state, Uttar Pradesh, holds 14.78% parliamentary representation. The Fazal Ali report pointed out this important disparity.In the second delimitation, based on the 1961 census, Tamil Nadu’s parliamentary seats were reduced from 41 to 39. After the 1971 census, this gap widened further. To prevent this injustice, the 42nd Constitution Amendment froze delimitation based on the 1971 census. The BJP trying so hastily to resolve a problem that could not find a solution for 50 years, and linking it with women’s reservation, is a very dangerous decision, and that is why we defeated the (131st Amendment) Bill.But isn’t it also necessary to find a solution to this 50-year-old problem? When do you think this should be done?The delimitation question must certainly be resolved. But this is not the way. At the very least, an all-party meeting and a meeting of chief ministers should have been convened. Changing parliamentary representation must be a fair determination that takes into account the many aspects related to a country’s language, culture and economic conditions.The Tamil Nadu government formed a three-member high-level committee that includes retired Justice Joseph Kurien to review Union-state relations and recommend measures to strengthen state autonomy. In its recently submitted interim report, the committee recommends that delimitation should not be carried out for the next 100 years.A few years ago, a bench of Madras High Court Justices N. Kirubakaran and B. Pugazhenthi delivered a very important judgement. In 1962, Tamil Nadu had 41 MPs; but by 1967, it was reduced to 39. Over the last 15 elections, we have lost 30 MPs. Therefore, the judges put forward the view that the number of MPs representing Tamil Nadu constituencies should be based on the 1962 census in any future delimitation exercise. You may agree or disagree with this view. But without even conducting a study and presenting it before us, delimitation should not be done in haste – that is our stand.How will the delimitation exercise, as proposed by the government so far, affect southern states?The southern states have performed excellently in controlling population, and this is not something that happens through a government rule or order. Population control is linked to a society’s awareness, education and healthcare standards – all of these together. Specifically, it was because women’s education improved in Tamil Nadu that population control was successfully achieved.The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of Tamil Nadu is just 2.1%, which is lower than the national average. That is why Tamil Nadu’s people, who are only 7% of India’s population, make up 44% of India’s women entrepreneurs. From 1971 to 2011, Tamil Nadu’s population grew by only 75%. But the population of Rajasthan grew by 166%, Bihar’s by 146%, and Uttar Pradesh’s by 138%.Population control is Tamil Nadu’s success, while the government’s bill showed the contempt of the BJP government towards that success! It showed the discrimination of the BJP because we sent our children to school. The BJP government brought the delimitation law for its own political gain – that is the truth.Why do you say so?Because inequality arising out of population control has created a serious contradiction with the core democratic principle of ‘one person, one vote’ and resolving this contradiction is one of the biggest challenges before India today. States like Tamil Nadu that have successfully implemented family planning and stabilised population growth stood to lose representation, while states with higher population growth could gain more seats. This should be debated with a sense of national concern and responsibility, rather than being driven by short-term political considerations.There is also a need to address Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation within the larger framework of representation reforms. Social justice concerns cannot be separated from discussions on women’s reservation and delimitation.However, the political approach by the BJP subtly undermines the role of states in governing India. Through this Bill, it attempted to secure for itself victory in the general election [in 2029] without the support of southern states, which continuously reject BJP’s communal politics.The debate in parliament on the delimitation bill took place during the final days of the Tamil Nadu election campaign. How did this influence its approach to the election?The BJP approaches all elections on a religious basis and this election was no different. All NDA parties, including the AIADMK, campaigned along the same lines.The stage decoration for a public meeting held in Madurai on March 1, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was designed to resemble the Thirupparankundram temple [the subject of a recent controversy, stoked along religious lines, in Madurai]. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also came to Madurai, falsely accused the DMK government of preventing the lighting of a lamp at the Thirupparankundram temple.Overall, the BJP’s election campaign was aimed at stoking religious division. Every BJP leader who came to campaign in the Madurai district referred to the idea of lighting a lamp near a dargah – a custom that has no place in the history of the Thirupparankundram temple. They did not speak about the development of the state at all.Fadnavis said that if the BJP candidate were elected to the assembly from Madurai, they would bring a metro rail project – but the people of Tamil Nadu are well aware of this biased approach of the BJP. In this election as well, Tamil Nadu will decisively defeat the BJP and its alliance.In the recent past, the delimitation exercises in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam were also carried out on a religious basis to help the BJP win elections.What do you think explains the government’s approach?Dividing India into 80 mandals and taking away the powers of states to concentrate them with the Union government is the long-term plan of the RSS. The 131st Amendment was just the beginning of that process. It is a dangerous Bill that we have brought down. This is not just the defeat of a Bill but a victory for Indian democracy and the constitution.