REPORTER’S DIARY: Delimitation buzzin power corridors

CHENNAI: For the past one week, a rumour has been doing the rounds at the Secretariat that the Centre has decided to go in for delimitation of constituencies in the State, and that the number of Lok Sabha constituencies is soon going to be 49, up 10 from the present 39.

The basis for the rumours is that with the new Parliament building going to be a reality; the Centre will resort to its next plan: increasing the number of Lok Sabha MPs to 820 (as is the seating capacity at the new building) from the present 545. This means Tamil Nadu will also get more MP constituencies.

The rumour mills also suggested that the Centre has already started the delimitation exercise and it will be completed by 2023, ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary polls. Though a set of officials believe delimitation exercise for MP constituencies is no doubt a better measure for administrative convenience and there will be more funds for the developmental activities, they raise doubts whether the ruling BJP government in Delhi might form new constituencies by weakening the constituencies that are strongholds of the DMK. They fear when the delimitation exercise is carried out there are possibilities that the BJP might carve out constituencies in such a way that the party stands to gain and even win a couple of seats in Tamil Nadu, where at present its score is zero.