Bhubaneswar: BJD president and former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday cautioned against using population as the sole criterion for delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies, emphasizing that it would unfairly penalise states that successfully controlled their population growth.
Naveen advocated for an all-party discussion by the Union govt to address concerns about the delimitation process. He was speaking virtually at a meeting on the issue in Chennai, chaired by Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, who has been actively rallying opposition parties on this issue, raising similar concerns about the potential impact of population-based delimitation on southern states.
“States that worked hard to reduce their population growth rates in line with national priorities should not be disincentivised,” Naveen said. He pointed out that Odisha, along with Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, West Bengal, and Punjab, successfully implemented population control measures.
The BJD leader warned that if the 2026 projected population figures became the basis for delimitation, Odisha could lose seats in both the Lok Sabha and state assembly. “This would be detrimental to states that effectively managed their population growth,” he said.
The former CM stressed that population control has been a crucial national agenda for India’s development, with states taking significant initiatives to support this goal. “If these states hadn’t achieved population stabilisation, India would have faced a population explosion, derailing progress,” he said.
The meeting, which saw participation from various political leaders, focused on ensuring democratic representation and protecting the rights of states that successfully implemented population control measures. BJD leaders Sanjay Dasburma and Amar Patnaik were present at the meeting in Chennai.
Countering BJD, BJP MLA Sukant Kumar Panigrahi said the opposition apprehension about an exercise which is yet to be spelled out is unfounded. “BJD seems to be taking part in the exercise purely on political considerations. They should self-introspect,” he said.