Aadhav Arjuna clarifies the Tamil Nadu government’s stand on delimitation

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“Our goal is not “fair delimitation”, but “freeze delimitation”, Minister for Public Works Aadhav Arjuna said in the Assembly on Friday (August 21, 2026). | Photo Credit: ANI

Public Works Minister Aadhav Arjuna said in the Assembly on Friday (August 21, 2026) that that there was no change in the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s position that there should be a freeze on the 543 seats in Parliament as done by former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was clarifying Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s statement on delimitation at the Southern Zonal Council meeting held at Mamallapuram on Thursday.

Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin of the DMK responded that the resolution passed by the Assembly on August 12 made it clear that there should be a freeze on the current number of seats. “However, in the Chief Minister’s speech, there is no mention of ‘freeze’ on the number of seats,” he said.

He also said, “The DMK’s position is that there should be a freeze on the current number of seats, as demanded in the resolution passed by the Assembly. But, if there is a change, the current proportion of seats for Tamil Nadu, 7.18%, shouldn’t change. The number of MPs can increase but there should be no reduction in the seats for Tamil Nadu.”

Minister for Energy Resources and Law C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar said the agenda for the Southern Zonal Council meetings was different. “The inter-State issues were discussed, but our point of view was reiterated. Since the stand was twisted, we clarified it immediately. It has been more than 24 hours since the clarification,” he said.

Mr. Aadhav Arjuna said, “The TVK’s position is the position of the majority of the parties in the House. Our goal is not “fair delimitation”, but “freeze delimitation”. If there is a 50% increase [in the number of seats] for Tamil Nadu, the number for the northern States will also increase by 50%. This will enable five or six northern States to get together and form a government. The DMK has also reiterated this point. There is no need to have two different positions — those of the ruling party and the Opposition. All 39 MPs from Tamil Nadu should oppose it in Parliament. We demand a measure similar to the special law Vajpayee brought in to freeze the seats for 25 years after listening to the demands of the southern States.”

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami asked the State government to clarify whether or not it wanted the number of seats to increase or decrease. “If the 25-year freeze is not extended before December this year, the Union government needs to bring in a new law. If delimitation is done on the basis of new Census figures, the number of seats in Parliament for Tamil Nadu could come down.”

Former Law Minister S. Regupathy said, “Only because of the pressure exerted by DMK leader Kalaignar [M. Karunanidhi] in 1976 and 2002, we ensured that it [the freeze] continued for 25 years. We will not betray Tamil Nadu.