29 December 2022

Table of Content

J&K exercise over, Election Commission starts process for delimitation of Assam’s constituencies

GS-2: General Studies II: Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.

Recently, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has begun the process of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Assam based on the 2001 Census data. The last time the process was done in 1976 on the basis of the 1971 Census. 

What is delimitation?

• Delimitation is an act of fixing boundaries in such a manner that reflect demographic changes in the state in terms of Lok Sabha and state Assembly seats.
• Objective: To provide equal representation to equal segments of a population.

Why delimitation is needed? 

• The population does not grow uniformly across the entire state.
• Thus, to reflect demographic changes along with their distribution, the act of delimitation of constituencies is periodically carried out.
• Political equality is the basic fundamental principle of democracy. The act of delimitation pushes towards “One vote, One value” and thus strengthens democracy in India.

Delimitation Commission

• Constitutional Mandate:

• Article-82: The delimitation commission shall readjust the allocation of seats in the House of the People to the States and the division of each State into territorial constituencies upon the completion of each census.
• Article-170: The delimitation commission shall readjust the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of each State and the division of each State into territorial constituencies upon the completion of each census. 

• In India, Delimitation Commissions have been constituted 4 times – 

• In 1952 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1952
• In 1963 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1962
• In 1973 under Delimitation Act, 1972

• There was no delimitation after the 1981, 1991 and 2001 Censuses. 

• In 2002 under Delimitation Act, 2002

• This act did not make any change either to the total seats in Lok Sabha or their division between states.
• But due to security reasons, four states – Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur – were kept outside from the exercise.

• The Delimitation Commission for these four states and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir was reconstituted on 6 March 2020 by the government.
• It is appointed as a high-power independent body by the president of India to carry out the process of delimitation in the country, state or province having a legislative body in collaboration with ECI.
• Composition: 

• A retired Supreme Court judge (Head)
• The Chief Election Commissioner of India and 
• Respective State Election Commissioners

• The orders of the delimitation commission have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court as it would hold up an election indefinitely.

• Though these orders come into force on a date to be determined by the president.
• The orders are also laid before the Lok sabha and the concerned State Legislative Assembly, but no alterations are permissible therein by them.

Why Delimitation exercises have not been undertaken after each census?

• Last time, the state-wise composition of the Lok Sabha was changed in 1976 on basis of the 1971 Census.
• The Constitution mandates that the number of Lok Sabha seats allotted to a state should be such that each seat represents an equal population throughout the nation irrespective of the state population.

• However, this provision benefitted those states that took no or little interest in population control by ending up with a greater number of seats in the Parliament.
• Contrary, it disadvantaged those states, especially southern states, who had greater success in controlling populations with the fear of losing meaningful political representation. 

• Constitutional Amendments of 1976:  To allay fears of the southern states delimitation was suspended until 2001 during Indira Gandhi’s Emergency rule in 1976. 

• It was further postponed until 2026 by another amendment with a hope that the country would achieve a uniform population growth rate by this time.

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