Delimitation Commission

Context:

Delimitation Commission comprising of Chairperson Retd. Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, Ex-Officio Member Shri Sushil Chandra (Election Commissioner) and Ex-Officio Member, Shri K.K Sharma (State Election Commissioner, J&K) today held a meeting in New Delhi with the Associate Members from Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, for seeking their suggestion/views on the process of delimitation in respect of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

What is Delimitation? 

• Delimitation literally means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body.
• The job of delimitation is assigned to a high power body. Such a body is known as Delimitation Commission or a Boundary Commission.
• In India, such 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 and in 2002 under Delimitation Act, 2002.
• The Delimitation Commission in India is a high power body whose orders have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court.
• These orders come into force on a date to be specified by the President of India in this behalf.
• The copies of its orders are laid before the House of the People and the State Legislative Assembly concerned, but no modifications are permissible therein by them.

Why Delimitation?

• To provide equal representation to equal segments of a population.
• Fair division of geographical areas so that one political party doesn’t have an advantage over others in an election.
• To follow the principle of “One Vote One Value”

How is delimitation done?

• After every census, the Parliament will enact a Delimitation Act, as per Article 82.
• As per Article 170, the states also get classified into territorial constituencies after every census, according to the said Act.
• Once the Act is enacted, the Central Government sets up a Delimitation Commission.
• The Commission then exercises the delimitation.

Delimitation Commission

The Delimitation Commission is a high-level body set up by an act of the Parliament.

• It is appointed by the country’s President.
• It works in tandem with the Election Commission of India.
• Delimitation Commission Members:
  • A retired judge of the Supreme Court
  • The Chief Election Commissioner
  • State Election Commissioners (of the respective states)

Functions of Delimitation Commission

The Delimitation Commission is a high power body whose orders have the force of law. Its orders cannot be questioned in a court of law. The copies of the orders are laid before the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies concerned, but no change is permitted in them.

• The main task of the commission is redrawing the boundaries of the various assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on a recent census.
• The representation from each State is not changed during this exercise. However, the number of SC and ST seats in a state are changed in accordance with the census.
• The Delimitation Commission has to determine the number and boundaries of constituencies in such a manner that the population of all seats is the same, as far as possible practically.
• The Commission also identifies the seats to be reserved for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes communities, in areas where their population is significant.
• If the members of the Commission have differing opinions, then the decision of the majority will be taken into consideration.
• The Commission releases draft proposals to the public through the Gazette of India and the official gazettes of states, and also in regional language newspapers.
• It also conducts public sittings wherein the public’s opinion is heard through written or oral representations.
• If found appropriate, changes are made to the draft proposal.
• The final order is published in the Gazettes and comes into effect by a date specified by the President.

Problems with Delimitation

• States that take little interest in population control could end up with a greater number of seats in Parliament. The southern states that promoted family planning faced the possibility of having their seats reduced.
• In 2008, Delimitation was done based on the 2001 census, but the total number of seats in the Assemblies and Parliament decided as per the 1971 Census was not changed.
• The constitution has also capped the number of Lok Shaba & Rajya Sabha seats to a maximum of 550 & 250 respectively and increasing populations are being represented by a single representative.

Steps to be taken

• A national consensus exercise should be started to sort out issues much before 2026.
• The weightage given by the Finance Commission to population can be reduced to 10%, or even 5%.

Way Forward

• Although the freeze on the number of seats in Lok Sabha and Assemblies should have been lifted after the 2001 Census, another amendment has postponed this until 2026.
• This was justified on the ground that a uniform population growth rate would be achieved throughout the country by 2026.

Source: PIB