A uniform 50% increase in LS seats is pulling the wool over someone’s eyes, says Praveen Chakravarty

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Advocating against undertaking delimitation on the basis of population, Congress Rajya Sabha Member Praveen Chakravarty said on Sunday that the proposal to uniformly increase the Lok Sabha seats for all States was pulling the wool over someone’s eyes.

In an interview with The Hindu in Chennai, he said the Tamil Nadu Congress does not believe that the number of seats should change if the population increases.

“Tamil Nadu’s share [of Lok Sabha seats] will roughly go down to 30 seats (if we accept the seats based on population). Why should we accept being punished for our successes? The (proposed) 50% increase in seats is pulling the wool over someone’s eye. While it seems like it’s a uniform increase for everybody, let’s take Uttar Pradesh as an example. Uttar Pradesh has 80 seats, while Tamil Nadu and Puducherry combined have 40 seats. So, the difference is 40 seats. If everybody gets a 50% increase, the 40 more voices that we need to oppose will become 60 more voices. So, we are already in a minority compared to the North. Why widen this gap?” he asked.

The Congress would ensure the number of seats in Lok Sabha remains the same (543) “after 2029, when Rahul Gandhi becomes Prime Minister,” he said.

Asked to reflect on the recent Gen Z protests in New Delhi against the Union government, which resulted in the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over paper leaks, Mr. Chakravarty said the younger generation sought a radical change and doesn’t like the entrenched politics of the establishment.

“What I have observed during the Tamil Nadu election is that for the first time, it was such an age divide. Less than 40 in one direction, above 50 in another direction. Very similar to the Jantar Mantar protests. I think they’re very clear that they want a more sincere...politics. They don’t like establishment entrenched politics. And it’s really a challenge for all political parties, including my own. Fortunately, our leader, Mr. Rahul Gandhi has coped quite well,” he said.

Regarding the recent Assembly election results, which saw the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, led by C. Joseph Vijay (now, Chief Minister), become the single largest party, and how he was one of the first to sense the ground swell of support for the TVK, the MP said: “Anybody who was actually doing surveys honestly and were true to what they saw realised that there was a strong desire for change. And the youth divide was extraordinary. Around 60% to 70% of people below 40 are saying that they want to give this new party a chance. And the third, the DMK never in its history has won a re-election. And, there’s a reason for it. When it’s in power, it just goes berserk.”

He also said that the overwhelming support enjoyed by Mr. Vijay shouldn’t be dismissed as mere “fandom”. “The verdict basically changed all we knew about Tamil Nadu politics over the last three decades. It just threw everything out.