Phase 0 — The Non-Negotiable Pre-Condition

Before any constitutional amendment is introduced, a Finance Commission Act amendment creates the Population-Weighted Finance Commission Guarantee: if the central government proceeds with delimitation by simple majority without constitutional amendment, the Finance Commission shall apply an additional 3.5% devolution weight to each state whose Lok Sabha seat share decreases. This requires only a simple parliamentary majority — passed in Phase 0 to transform southern parties' negotiating position before constitutional discussions begin.

The strategic logic. Southern parties enter constitutional negotiations fearing a catastrophic downside: if negotiations fail, they face simple-majority delimitation with no protections. Phase 0 eliminates the catastrophic downside. They no longer face a binary choice between a complex constitutional package and disaster. The burning-copies-of-the-bill dynamic [@cite_stalin_namakkal_2026] is defused before it begins.