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Bengaluru/Mahabalipuram: Chief minister DK Shivakumar Thursday called for freezing Lok Sabha seats at 543 for 25 years and asked the Southern Zonal Council to pass a resolution urging the Union govt to base delimitation on the 1971 Census.
Bengaluru/Mahabalipuram: Chief minister DK Shivakumar Thursday called for freezing Lok Sabha seats at 543 for 25 years and asked the Southern Zonal Council to pass a resolution urging the Union govt to base delimitation on the 1971 Census. He said reservation for women should be accommodated within the existing seats.
Addressing the 31st meeting of the Southern Zonal Council in Mahabalipuram, Shivakumar said southern India’s success in controlling population growth should not cost it political weight.
“We welcome assurances that no southern state will lose seats, but representation is not only about numbers. It is about weight, and about voice,” revealed the text of his speech released by the Karnataka govt in Bengaluru.
He said southern states had responded to the country’s population stabilisation call with “discipline”. “That success should never be a reason to make our voice smaller. Our economic weight must be matched with political voice,” he said, calling on fellow chief ministers to back the 1971-basis demand.
Linking the issue to women’s reservation, Shivakumar argued implementation should not be held up pending a fresh census.
“Women have waited long enough for their rightful representation,” he said.
The intervention comes as southern states worry a population-based delimitation exercise could shift parliamentary balance in favour of states with larger, faster-growing populations — largely BIMARU states.
Making a case for fiscal equity, he said the five southern states together contribute nearly 33% of India’s GDP while housing about 20% of its population. Karnataka alone contributes 9% with just 5.5% of the country’s population, he said, while citing its 42% share of India’s software exports, around 1,100 global capability centres, and over 21% of FDI equity inflows between 2019 and 2025.
“We contribute, we build, we grow, and we carry the nation forward. Pride demands fairness in return. All we ask from the Union govt is this: Please care as much as we share,” he said.
On devolution, he said Karnataka’s share in the divisible pool fell from 4.7% to 3.6% under the 15th Finance Commission, costing the state exchequer an estimated Rs 65,000 crore over six years, while a recommended special grant of Rs 5,495 crore and state-specific grants of Rs 6,000 crore remained unreleased.
He welcomed the rise to 4.1% under the 16th Finance Commission but said the share should eventually return to 4.7%. “Karnataka is the second largest contributor to GST and income tax, and a state that performs on growth and revenue deserves to be incentivised, not penalised,” he said.
He sought central compensation through projects including the Bengaluru-Mumbai high-speed rail line, STRR South, an AIIMS in Raichur and a special package for Kalyana Karnataka.
Reacting to Shivakumar’s comments on delimitation, Union home minister Amit Shah, who chaired the meeting, said it was a political issue raised by Congress party and should not be mixed with deliberations of the Southern Zonal Council.
Source: The Times of India
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