Chennai, March 22, 2025 – Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has strongly opposed the BJP-led central government’s proposed delimitation, calling it an unfair and undemocratic attempt to weaken opposition parties. Speaking at a conference in Chennai organized by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Mann accused the Centre of manipulating seat distribution to favor BJP strongholds while reducing representation in states where it struggles to win.
Mann criticized the move as a “shameful act” designed to silence opposition voices by cutting down seats in non-BJP states while boosting those in the Hindi belt. He pointed out that South Indian states were being unfairly targeted despite successfully implementing population control programs.
Highlighting a potential scenario, Mann warned that BJP could increase Uttar Pradesh’s Lok Sabha seats from 80 to over 140, splitting constituencies to strengthen its electoral advantage. He cited his former constituency, Sangrur, which covers Sangrur, Barnala, and Malerkotla districts, as an example of how a strong opposition seat could be fragmented into multiple smaller seats to benefit the ruling party.
The Punjab CM also expressed concern over the impact on his state, which currently has 13 Lok Sabha seats, making up 2.39% of the total representation. He claimed that while BJP might increase Punjab’s seats to 18, the state’s overall share in Parliament would drop to 2.11%, diminishing its influence. Given Punjab’s historic contributions to India’s freedom struggle, Mann argued that the state’s representation should be increased to 21 seats instead of being reduced.
Calling the proposed changes intolerable and a direct attack on democracy, Mann pledged to fight the move “tooth and nail.” He assured full support to like-minded parties opposing the delimitation and invited them to hold the next conference in Punjab to strengthen the resistance.
