08 Nov

Delimitation Commission

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Contents

• Understanding Delimitation and Delimitation Commission
• Constitutional Provisions
• Composition of Delimitation Commission

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Understanding Delimitation and Delimitation Commission:

• Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies to represent changes in population.
• The exercise of delimitation is carried out by an independent, high powered body, called Delimitation Commission. It is appointed by GoI under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act.

­ Purpose:

• Ensuring equal representation to equal segment of a population (“one value one vote” principle).
• Fair division of geographical areas so that one party doesn’t have advantage over others in election.

Constitutional Provisions

• Article 82: Readjustment After Each Census: The allocation of seats in the Lok Sabha to the states and division of each state into territorial constituencies shall be readjusted in such a manner as Parliament may by law determine.
  • According to this provision, the Parliament has enacted the Delimitation Commission Acts in 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002.
  • The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 froze the allocation of seats in the Lok Sabha to the states and division of each state into territorial  constituencies till the year 2000 at the 1971 level.
    • Therefore, there were no delimitation commission after 1981 and 1991 census.
  • The 84th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2001 extended this freeze for another 25 years (i.e. upto year 2026)
    • But, it allowed internal readjustment and rationalization of territorial constituencies in the states on the basis of population figures of 1991.
    • Later, the 87th Amendment Act of 2003 allowed this readjustment and
      rationalization on the basis of 2001 census and not 1991 census.
• Why?
  • The states which were effectively implementing population control measures were at a disadvantage. The fear of losing meaning political representation was specially great in the southern states which not only had great success in controlling populations but also economically developed such that they generated a lot more per capita revenue than the northern states.
• Article 170 has similar provisions for division of states into territorial constituencies­

Composition of Delimitation Commission (as per the 2002 Act)

• Chairperson – A sitting or former judge of the Supreme Court, to be appointed by the Central government
• Ex-officio member – The Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commissioner nominated by the Chief Election Commissioner.
• Ex-officio members – The State Election Commissioners of the concerned states

Associate Members (Members without any voting rights)

• As per the 2002 Act, The Delimitation Commission shall have 10 associate members for each state.
  • Five Lok Sabha members from the state nominated by speaker of the Lok Sabha speaker
  • Five MLAs from the state nominated by legislative assembly speaker
• Judicial Bar
  • As per section 10(2) of the 2002 Act, the order of delimitation commission will have the force of law and will not be called into question in any court.
• Objective of creating Delimitation Commission
  • Provide equal representation for equal population segments, and a fair division of geographical areas, so that no political party has an unfair advantage.

A) Delimitation Commission for J&K, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland (Formed in March 2020)

• As per the section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002.
• Purpose
  • Delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in the UT of J&K and state of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur.
  • Delimitation of J&K has been completed as per the provisions of the J&K Reorganization Act. It is based on the 2011 census.
• Why delimitation of only these states?
  • Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur were left out of the delimitation exercise 2002-08.
    • The four states had moved to Guwahati High Court against 2002-08 exercise, challenging the use of the 2001 census for reference. They demanded that delimitation be called off till NRC was not updated.

B) Delimitation Commission’s final report for UT of Jammu and Kashmir (May 2022)

• Erstwhile J&K state had 111 assembly seats – 46 in Kashmir, 37 in Jammu, 4 in Ladakh and 24 seats reserved for POK. (Since Ladakh is a separate territory, the present J&K had 107 seats in the assembly). It didn’t provide reservation for STs in the assembly.
• Final Order of the Delimitation Commission:
  • Assembly: An increase of 7 seats: 114 seats for J&K (including 24 seats reserved for POK)
    • Reservation of seats for STs, SCs and Kashmiri Pandits.
  • Lok Sabha: Total number of LS seats remain 5 (but they have been reorganized)
    • All LS constituencies now comprise 18 assembly segments each.
• ­ It has further recommended an unspecified number of seats for those who were forced to migrate from Pakistan controlled areas.
  • Analysis: Positives
    • The commission has done well to ensure that all communities in the UT of J&K will have a share in the assembly including Dogras of Jammu, the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the Kashmiri Muslims.
    • The completion of the delimitation exercise paves the way for assembly elections
      • a crucial step in the possible restoration of statehood for J&K.
  • Analysis: Criticism
    • The regional parties have criticized the delimitation as a highly political exercise intending to benefit the ruling dispensation at the Center.
    • In 2002, the then J&K government amended the J&K Representation of the People Act to freeze delimitation exercise until 2026, as the rest of the country.
    • 44% of population in Jammu have got 48% of the seats and 56% of the population in Kashmir have got only 52% of the seats.

C) Election Commission comes out with final report on Assam Delimitation (Aug 2023)

Key Highlights:

• All assembly and parliamentary constituencies in the state of Assam were delimited (redrawn) based on 2001 census.
• No change in numbers: Assembly constituencies (126); Parliamentary Constituencies (14)
• Nomenclature modified for 19 assembly constituencies and 1 parliamentary constituencies.
• Reservation for STs and SCs in 19 Assembly, 2 Lok Sabha and nine assembly and 1 Lok Sabha seats respectively. [Overall reserved assembly seats for both SCs and STs have increased]

­ Criticism:

• Use of 2001 data (when the 2011 data existed) [for J&K delimitation, the 2011 data was used]

D) Criticism and Conclusion of Delimitation Exercise

• Delimitation based on population seriously harms the states which are better in implementing family planning norms
  • The state’s political influence at Center reduces.
• It pits Indian citizens against one another across arbitrary, divisive cleavages – North vs South, Hindi vs non-Hindi, so on, and so forth.
• Sometimes delimitation commission are influenced by the politics and the delimitation is criticized for weakening the political influence of some groupings.

Conclusion

• A properly functioning delimitation commission is crucial for effective working of a democracy. At the same time there is need to create a balance between a regular conduct of delimitation and proper enforcement of the family planning norms. A politically neutral delimitation commission will also go a long way in ensuring acceptance of the outcomes of the delimitation commission.