India News | CPI Demands All-party Meeting on Census, Raises Concern over Delimitation

New Delhi, Jun 6 (PTI) Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday urged the Centre to urgently call an all-party meeting on the upcoming Census, saying there were serious concerns among the southern states with the proposed delimitation exercise.

Briefing the media about decisions taken in a meeting of the Central Committee of the party held here from June 3 to June 5, CPI(M) General Secretary MA Baby said before any decision is taken on the census, as well as caste census and delimitation, a meeting of the political parties represented in Parliament is essential.

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"The Central government, after deliberate and inordinate delay, was finally forced to announce that it will conduct the general census in 2027 and along with it, the caste census. Various apprehensions are being expressed about the intentions of the government about the modalities it intends to follow. The government should immediately convene an all-party meeting and discuss these issues," the CPI(M) said in a statement.

Baby also wondered if and how the census would affect the delimitation exercise.

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"Decennial census is part of our constitutional notion, unlike many other countries. And once this decennial census is done, delimitation will also be taken up. These are all interrelated," Baby said.

"Now there is very, very serious apprehension among the people of South India and a few other states, including Himachal Pradesh, about the political balance and the number of representatives of each region that would be in the Indian Parliament," Baby said.

He referred to the meeting on delimitation convened by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.

"So before any decision is taken about this census, as well as caste census and delimitation, a meeting of the political parties represented in Parliament at least is essential," he said.

A spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday said Home Minister Amit Shah has made it clear on several occasions that in the delimitation exercise, concerns of the southern states will be taken care of and discussed with all concerned parties at an "appropriate time."

India's 16th Census with caste enumeration will be carried out in 2027, with the reference date of October 1, 2026, in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and of March 1, 2027, in the rest of the country.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)