Nationalist Congress Party [NCP (Sharad Pawar)] MP Supriya Sule on Wednesday dismissed speculation that her party had decided to support the Centre’s proposed Delimitation Bill and said that the party would consider backing the exercise only if the number of Lok Sabha seats were increased by 50 per cent uniformly across all states, rather than redistributing seats solely based on population. She also dismissed reports claiming that the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) had agreed to support the bill. 

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Sule said the proposed delimitation was based on population, a formula opposed by several parties, as it would have disproportionately affected southern states. She said her party had made several suggestions during the debate and also during a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. “We requested the Union Home Minister convene an all-party meeting instead of holding separate discussions with individual parties,” Sule said.