Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah fears delimitation may eat into Lok Sabha seats in South

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday expressed concerns over a potential drop in the number of Lok Sabha seats from the proposed delimitation of constituencies.

“The proposed delimitation poses an even greater danger. The southern states controlled their population, invested in education and empowered women because the nation asked us to. Now we are told that success will be punished with reduced representation,” the CM said while speaking at a conference organised by the Centre for Socialist Studies and Samajwadi Sangama in Bengaluru.

Siddaramaiah often said if the delimitation is based on the latest census, southern states, including Karnataka, may see a reduction or stagnation in their number of Lok Sabha seats, while northern states will gain more seats. If the exercise was based solely on the latest census (2021 or 2031), the number of LS seats in Karnataka was likely to drop from 28 to 26. Similarly, undivided Andhra Pradesh’s seats would drop from 42 to 34, Kerala’s from 20 to 12, and Tamil Nadu’s from 39 to 31, the CM had said earlier.


The CM wants the union government to adopt either the 1971 census as the basis, or increase the number of Lok Sabha seats proportionally, without relying solely on population figures.

At Tuesday’s event, the chief minister said democracy cannot reward failure and penalise progress. “If this injustice continues, South India will be politically marginalised in its own country. Federalism is not charity. It is a constitutional right.”

Karnataka, the CM insisted, was being punished for performance. “We contribute nearly ?5 lakh crore annually to union taxes and 8.4% of India’s GDP with just about 5% of the population yet receive barely 13 paise for every rupee sent. Our share was cut by the 15th Finance Commission, special grants were denied, over ?53,000 crore lost through cesses, and even severe drought relief was ignored. This is fiscal injustice, not federal cooperation.”

Siddaramaiah said when the Union “hoards resources through cesses, cuts devolution, delays disaster relief and denies States their constitutional dues, it is not reform - it is a betrayal of the Constitution.”