All about Delimitation in India

On 4th June the Union Minister Amit Shah met home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Senior Security Officials over the issue in Jammu and Kashmir. There has been a long-pending issue of delimitation of constituencies in the State. The recent debate on delimitation in J&K has brought forth many unanswered questions relating to delimitation in India.

Here in this update, we’ll be discussing about delimitation, delimitation commission, its process and after-effect.

Introduction

Indian constitution has put an upper limit of 550 elected members in the Lower House of Parliament. All of them are people’s representatives, and they are chosen by the people through an unbiased electoral process.

Until the 1970s, the common practice was to redraw constituencies based on the recent population, keeping the total number of members constant. The main idea behind this was to have a proper representation of voters. The concept of delimitation was introduced, which ensures that there are roughly an equal number of electors in each constituency.

 What is Delimitation?

In a literal sense, delimitation is the act or process of fixing the limits or boundaries of the territorial constituencies in the Country. It is assigned to a high power authority known as the Delimitation Commission or Boundary Commission.

This Commission is one of the most powerful and independent bodies, and one cannot question the order in the Court of Law. The orders are put in front of Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies. Neither Parliament nor the assembly can change the recommendations, and the report is brought before the President. After the approval of the President, an official notification will make the changes permanent.

These orders shall come into force on a date which is specified by the President of India. The copies of the orders are laid before the House of the People and the State Legislative Assembly concerned, and no modifications are permissible by them.

Delimitation Commission in India

The Indian government establishes the Delimitation Commission under The Delimitation Act.  The Commission has been constituted 4 times in India, in 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002.

This high power body is given the task of redrawing the boundaries of various assemblies and Lok Sabha constituencies based on the recent census. During this process, the representation from each State is the same, but the number of SC and ST seats change in accordance with the census.

Role of Delimitation Commission

• There are a total of 543 constituencies in India. The Delimitation Commission is bestowed with the power to demarcate the boundaries in these constituencies.
• The Commission has to readjust state division into territorial divisions for the purpose of election to the House of people and the State of Legislative Assembly on the basis of the census.

How is delimitation done?

Although the previous four delimitations have stayed silent on the mode of delimitation for redrawing the boundaries, there are multiple modes for doing so. One such method is to follow the number of seats of the average population size.

Purpose

In India, the main criteria for the allocation of seats is population. The readjustment is done according to the census so that the ratio of population and seat is maintained with the State. The primary purpose behind it, is to rationalize the structure and composition of electoral constituencies on the principle of one vote and one value.

Laws related to Delimitation

Article 82 of the Indian Constitution

Article 82 in The Constitution of India states that after the completion of the census, the seats of the House of People and the division of each State into the territorial constituencies shall be readjusted.

Additionally, it specifically mentions that this readjustment will not affect the representation in the House of people until the dissolution of the existing House.

Moreover, the readjustment will take effect only after the order of the President.

Lastly, until the relevant figures are not available after 2026, it is not necessary to readjust the allocation or division.

Article 83

Article 83 of the Constitution of India talk about the “Duration of Houses of Parliament.” It States that the Council of State shall not be subject to dissolution. One-third of members shall retire as soon as may be on the expiration of every second year in accordance with the legal provisions.

The House of people shall continue for a period of 5 years from the date of first meeting and expiration of the period will be deemed to be the dissolution of the House.

Process of Delimitation

• Article 82 specifically states that the Parliament enacts The Delimitation Act after every census. After the commencement of the Act, a delimitation commission is created.
• Afterwards, this Commission demarcates the boundaries of the constituencies as per The Act.
• The last delimitation was done based on the 2001 census under The Act.
• Notwithstanding the above, it was held in 2002 that no further delimitation would occur till the first census after the 2026 census. Thus, the present constituencies will be operational till 2026.

How will delimitation affect the current political scenario in J&K?

After the delimitation, the total number of Lok Sabha seats and assembly seats remain the same in the State, but new seats will come up, and old boundaries will be redrawn.

There are a total of 87 seats in Jammu and Kashmir, with 46 seats of Kashmir, 37 in Jammu and 4 in Ladakh. A majority of 44 seats is required for forming the government there.

The average number of voters per State assembly in Kashmir is far less than that of Jammu and Ladakh.

Political scenario will drastically change if there is a change in seats of Jammu and Ladakh. As a result this would crumble the vote bank and disrupt the political scenario. Or maybe, it will help in proper representation of the voters present in Jammu and Ladakh. Only time will tell if it is a good move or not.

Conclusion

Delimitation was introduced to help the Country to handle the changing scenario. It helps in proper representation of people in elections. But India has frozen the delimitation process until 2026. Thereafter, if delimitation is implemented in J&K, it will increase the number of seats and open gates of change in the political arena. But a forced Delimitation in the State of J&K will definitely inflict emotional partition on the basis of communal lines.

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