Chennai, August 29, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan on Saturday accused the BJP-led NDA government of deliberately linking the proposed delimitation exercise with women’s reservation to create an impression that parties opposing delimitation are also against political reservation for women.
Speaking to IANS, Elangovan said the DMK and Congress support women’s reservation but oppose the proposed delimitation and the manner in which the number of parliamentary seats could be determined.
“They want to club delimitation with women’s reservation because if anyone opposes delimitation, they will portray them as being against women’s reservation. This is a tactic being used by the BJP,” he said.
“We are not against women’s reservation. In fact, when the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed earlier, we supported it, and all parties supported it. It was originally introduced by the Congress party,” he added.
Elangovan said the Opposition’s objection was specifically to the proposed delimitation and the projected allocation of seats, rather than to reservation for women.
On former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s allegations that the Election Commission of India (ECI) was used to “hijack” the previous Assembly elections and that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) could result in large-scale deletion of names from electoral rolls, Elangovan backed the allegations.
“That is very obvious,” he said, referring to claims surrounding the destruction of EVMs and election-related evidence. He alleged that the burning of a warehouse containing EVMs had made it difficult to pursue legal challenges.
On social justice and reservation, Elangovan argued that state governments should have a key role in identifying Backward Classes because social and demographic conditions differ from one state to another.
He cited Punjab as an example, saying its OBC reservation is 4 per cent and arguing that the state’s distinct social composition needs to be considered while framing reservation policies.
On the controversy surrounding Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s memoirs, Elangovan said references to political opponents such as the BJP and RSS would be natural given her political career.
“Sonia Gandhi is a political leader and was the president of the Congress party. Her memoirs will definitely talk about the BJP and the RSS,” he said, adding that memoirs written by leaders of other political parties could similarly discuss or criticise their ideological and political opponents.
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