A senior BJP leader has pushed back against opposition claims that India's upcoming parliamentary delimitation exercise would disadvantage southern states, arguing it would in fact expand their representation. Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur said at a press conference in Bengaluru that under the ruling government's proposed "50% formula," southern states' combined share of Lok Sabha (India's lower house of parliament) seats would rise from 23.76% to 23.90%, with every southern state gaining more seats than even a 2011 Census-based projection would have yielded. He cited Tamil Nadu growing from 39 to 59 seats, Kerala from 20 to 30, and Karnataka from 28 to 42, dismissing opposition characterisations of the process as a "manufactured crisis."