Delimitation only after population census: Laxman

Hyderabad: BJP Parliamentary Board Member and MP Dr K Laxman said that the new state party president elections would be completed by the end of March and denied that the Southern states of the country would be treated unreasonably for losing parliament seats on account of the delimitation of the parliament constituencies.

In a chit-chat with media here on Tuesday, he said the election of new state presidents of the party of Telangana and other southern states is expected to be completed by the end of March.

On the issue of concerns expressed by southern states being at the receiving end on account of delimitation, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already assured that there would not be any reduction of parliament seats in the southern states.

The BJP leader said that the delimitation process would be taken up after the completion of the population census. Though his party is not against the census of the caste categories, at the same time, "it has to be done scientifically so that the process would not cause any concerns to the people, opening up a pandora's box." He said that the Centre has not arrived at any decision on the issue of the caste census.