NEW DELHI: As the delimitation row intensifies, Congress MP Manish Tewari on Thursday said if the exercise is held as per the current principle of ‘one vote, one value’, the southern and northern states would lose Lok Sabha seats, while only Central Indian states would gain.
The Congress leader said according to the existing formula, the number of Lok Sabha seats of both Punjab and Haryana post delimitation would be 18. Currently, Punjab has 13 seats and Haryana 10. Tewari demanded framing of a new formula for the delimitation process.
The Congress leader’s remarks comes in the backdrop of the row over the delimitation exercise with an all-party meeting held in Tamil Nadu opposing the population-based delimitation of Parliamentary constituencies.
“If delimitation is held on the current principles of one Citizen, one vote and one value, then not only the south, even north India would also lose the share of the northern states as a percentage share of the total strength of the Lok Sabha and even Rajya Sabha will go down further,” Tewari wrote on X.
“For example, the number of Lok Sabha seats of both Punjab and Haryana post delimitation would be 18... as proportion to the overall strength of the Lok Sabha, both states would lose further. In any case, they are marginalised and they would become even more inconsequential,” Tewari said.
Even within northern states, how the distribution of seats would play out is still an open-ended question, he noted.
“The only gainers in this exercise would be Middle India that would see a substantial increase in the number of Parliament seats as they have been laggards in population control” Tewari said.