Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 16 (ANI): Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MLA and Thousand Lights constituency candidate Ezhilan Naganathan, on Thursday, led the protest outside the Gopalapuram residence of late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and said that opposition parties across states were uniting against the proposal, alleging that it would adversely impact the representation of southern states.

He said, 'Today every state is rallying behind our CM's voice, we have got letters from Revanth Reddy, West Bengal and other affected states. Opposition parties have joined together to oppose the bill as it will affect the South Indian states.'

Alleging an imbalance in representation, Naganathan said, 'The Union government has failed to understand the contribution of the South Indian states, and now they want to bring delimitation in such a manner that the North Indian states will have an increase in the number of seats and seats in South Indian states will decrease.'

He further said the government was combining issues for political reasons, stating, 'Over vote bank and diversion tactics, they have clubbed delimitation with the women's reservation bill.'

He also said that the process should follow proper procedure, adding, 'Ideally, a census should be conducted and then delimitation. They have arbitrarily selected the 2011 census data.'

Meanwhile, DMK candidate from Virugambakkam Assembly constituency Prabhakar Raja carried out a door-to-door campaign in the MGR Nagar area of Chennai wearing black attire as a symbolic protest against the proposed delimitation exercise.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin burned a copy of the proposed delimitation bill, whose implementation is tied to a population-based revision of constituencies based on the 2011 census.

Stalin also raised a black flag to kick off statewide anti-delimitation agitation.

The opposition to the proposed delimitation bill has been mounting for a long time and has escalated after the Centre's recent approval of draft amendment bills to operationalise the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023.

The opposition has also objected to haste in convening a special Parliament sitting amid the election season.

The government is planning to implement the women's reservation ahead of the 2029 General Elections by bringing in an amendment to the 2023 Act and a constitutional amendment to delink the delimitation process from the 2027 census.

The government has proposed to increase the number of seats in the House to 850, with 815 seats proposed for the States and the remaining 35 for the Union Territories. The Lok Sabha has 543 seats at present.

The Centre has called a special sitting of Parliament from April 16 to 18. (ANI)