Delimitation commission of India

The Delimitation commission of India is a commission established by the provisions of the Delimitation commission act. Delimitation commissions have been set up four times in the past- 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002- under Delimitation commission acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002.

The function of the Delimitation commission is to redraw the boundaries of the various assembly and lok sabha constituencies based on a recent census. The present delimitation of constituencies has been done on the basis of 2001 census under the provisions of Delimitation act, 2002.

Why Delimitation commission is in news?

After the enactmemt of the J&K reorganisation act,2019, the delimitation exercise has to be undertaken in the union territory of Jammu and kashmir according to the 2011 census. It is unique because the delimitation or creation of boundaries of state assembly constituencies  and lok sabha constituencies of the rest of the country(except arunachal pradesh, assam, jharkhand, manipur and nagaland) has been done according to 2001 census. There is a ban on delimitation process in rest of the country till 2026. It implies that the next delimitation can be done only after the census of 2031 census.

This delimitation process in J&K is being opposed by the the social and political organisations based in jammu region and they are demanding the delimitation process to be done according to the census of 2001 as they claim that the census of 2011 is not accurate and population in kashmir abruptly increased and in jammu it decreased which was against the trend of 2001 census. even after the large scale migration of kashmiri hindus, sikhs and some muslims out of the kashmir valley due to terrorism issue. This delimitation process would give undue advantage to the kashmir valley in terms of total assembly constituencies in the union territory of J&K.

History of delimitation process in India

Delimitation commissions have been set up four times in the past- 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under Delimitation commission acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002. The union government had suspended delimitation in 1976 until after the 2001 census so that states’ family planning programs would not affect their political representations as some of the states were performing very poorly in controlling their population so these states would get more lok sabha constituencies after delimitation than those states which were successful in controlling their population growth.

But in 2002 after the 2001 census, a delimitation commission was set up with justice kuldip singh, a retired judge of supreme court as its chairperson. But it could only be implemented after 4 january 2008, when cabinet committee on political affairs(CCPA) decided to implement the order from the Delimitation commission.

However, there is a further ban on delimitation process in India until 2026 as it is believed that this is the time by which the population growth of the country will become mostly uniform throughout the country. so the next delimitation process can only be done after the census of 2031.

Need for Delimitation

The uneven growth of population in different constituencies in different parts of the country as well as within the same state.

Also, continuous migration of people or electorate from one place to another especially from rural areas to urban areas have resulted in strikingly different sizes of electoral constituencies even within the same state.

so after every census, a readjustment is to be made in allocation of seats in the lok sabha to the states. Division of each state into territorial constituencies.

Some important facts

• Articles 82 and 170 of the constitution of India provides for readjustment or delimitation and the division of each state into territorial constituencies on the basis of the 2001 census by such authority and in such manner as parliament by law determine.
• Articles 330 and 332 of the constitution of India provides for refixing the number of seats reserved for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the house of the people and legislative assemblies of the states on the basis of the 2001 census.
• The 42nd amendment act of 1976 froze delimitation process till the year 2000 at the 1971 level.
• Delimitation of constituencies is carried out by the simple majority of parliament.
• Also delimitation exercise cannot be questioned in any court.