The response from the SEC came on Thursday, hours after the state's Urban Development Department issued a letter postponing the finalisation of the ULB reservation roster due to the unavailability of updated Census data.
Reiterating his attack on the Centre over Census and Delimitation, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, on Friday, said that the Census delay is "no accident" and the delimitation plan is "no coincidence".
Shiv Sena-UBT leader Anand Dubey welcomed the Union Cabinet's approval to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census but questioned the timing of the decision, suggesting it may be linked to the upcoming Bihar elections.
In the letter Stalin pointed out that the previous delimitation exercises were conducted in 1952, 1963, and 1973, but were frozen by the 42nd Amendment in 1976 until the first census after 2000. The freeze was extended in 2002 until the census after 2026. However, with the 2021 Census del
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Sonia Gandhi highlighted the four-year delay in conducting the census and expressed concerns that it is unlikely to be conducted this year as well.