Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin has urged the people of his state to have more children in view of the population-based delimitation process which, he said, would bring down the state’s representation in Parliament. Similar concerns have been expressed by Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, with the South fearing that its success in checking population growth as compared to the North may put it at a political disadvantage on the national plane. The Urdu dailies tracked this growing row over the looming delimitation exercise. Over the week they also kept their focus on disputes over the language policy that again flared up in some states.
Highlighting West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee’s address to a conclave of her party’s leaders and workers, the Kolkata-based Akhbar-e-Mashriq, in its March 1 editorial, says that Mamata, who has been in power for three terms since 2011, set the tone for the 2026 Assembly polls by tearing into the Opposition BJP and Election Commission (EC). While outlining her game plan for the polls, Mamata set the TMC rank and file a target of 215 seats — one more than the TMC’s 2021 tally — and announced that there will be “Khela Hobe (game will be played)” again, it says. “The CM slammed the BJP for its alleged bid to divide the people on communal lines. She castigated the EC while alleging how the BJP was manipulating the voter lists in collusion with the poll body.”
The daily notes that Mamata attributed the BJP’s victory in Maharashtra and Delhi to alleged irregularities in electoral rolls, claiming that they were now gunning for Bengal. She also waved a list with names of alleged fake voters, claiming that “it had the names of people from Haryana and Gujarat with those of Bengal residents, and with the same EPIC numbers”. She also targeted new Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that “the BJP was trying to influence the EC by packing it with its people”, the editorial says. She even warned that if necessary action was not taken to correct the electoral rolls, her party would launch a sit-in agitation in front of the EC’s office.
“In a bid to galvanise her party members, Mamata recalled that in the 2021 Assembly polls, BJP leaders claimed ‘200 paar’ but were routed. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, they claimed ‘400 paar’ but could not get even a simple majority,” the daily writes. It adds that focusing on the electoral rolls, Mamata further asked TMC members to verify the same at the booth level across the state. She announced a committee comprising senior TMC leaders including Abhishek Banerjee, Subrata Bakshi, Derek O’Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay to oversee this entire exercise. “Mamata’s allegations seemed to have prompted the EC to swing into action. The poll body has held meetings and discussed measures to plug any loopholes in the conduct of polls, especially the issue of EPIC cards with the same numbers in different states,” says the daily.
SIASAT
Referring to disquiet in the Janata Dal (United) over party president and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s future prospects, with the state Assembly polls barely eight months away, the Hyderabad-based Siasat, in its March 3 leader, writes that despite having been a past master at retaining the CM chair regardless of the coalition at the helm in the last two decades, Nitish was now increasingly finding the going tough. “Nitish has been known for repeatedly switching loyalties between the BJP-led NDA and the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan. The BJP is however asserting itself more stridently now, signalling that as the senior partner it should have the upper hand in deciding key matters relating to the ruling alliance,” the editorial says. “While Nitish has always managed to keep his grip on the CM’s position, the BJP has now stepped up to rein him in.”
The daily says the BJP has acquired a reputation for dominating its allies. “There have been cases where the BJP has targeted its partners after joining hands with them to form a coalition government. In Maharashtra, the BJP made Eknath Shinde the CM after he split the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, but following their win in the recent Assembly polls he was cut to size and forced to play second fiddle to BJP CM Devendra Fadnavis,” it says.
Holding that the JD(U) chief is in a Catch-22 situation, the editorial states, “Sticking to the NDA could be Nitish’s compulsion as he does not want to take any risks now. At the same time, he also seems to be worried over the BJP’s moves.” What has fuelled the JD(U)’s apprehension is its perception that the BJP was promoting LJP leader Chirag Paswan to checkmate Nitish. “With the RJD also cranking up its poll machinery, there may be possibility of a political realignment in the state in the run-up to the polls,” the edit says. “Bihar’s political scenario is getting more interesting by the day. Nitish is an astute leader known for his formidable survival skills. All eyes will be on his play in the coming days.”
SALAR
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Flagging the conflict over delimitation, the Bengaluru-based Salar, in its February 28 editorial, says that Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin’s move to convene an all-part meeting on March 5 on delimitation is a pointer that it would not be easy to put this issue on the back burner any longer. “By declaring that delimitation is hanging over the southern states like a sword, Stalin has sought to champion the concerns and rights of all southern states,” it says, noting that delimitation is a constitutional mandate, which is supposed to be carried out after every Census to readjust the number of seats of the Lok Sabha and Assemblies and their boundaries on the basis of the latest population figures. The edit points out that delimitation was deferred for 25 years twice through constitutional amendments — first in 1976, and then in 2001 until 2026 — freezing the number of seats in the legislatures based on the 1971 population.
“Although the BJP-led Central government has not announced any schedule for delimitation, it would follow the much-delayed Census which is expected to be carried out next year. Since delimitation is done on the basis of population, southern states fear that their representation in the Lok Sabha would come down on account of their successful implementation of population control measures,” the daily says. “The South feels that this would lead to the decline of its influence and heft in national politics as compared to the North.”
The edit states that although Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assured that there would be no “injustice” to the South when it comes to redrawing the parliamentary constituencies, the apprehensions among the southern states could not be dismissed as “unfounded”. Stalin has claimed that Tamil Nadu may lose eight seats due to delimitation, it says. “This is to be seen how the Centre resolves the delimitation tangle. But the southern states must not be penalised for performing well on the development front while keeping their demographic rates in check. The share of southern states in giving contributions as taxes to the Centre is also higher than their northern counterparts.”