News Highlights:
The New Delimitation exercise in Assam remerged four districts with the ones they were carved out of four days after the Election Commission of India (ECI) notified the initiation of the delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in the State on December 27, 2022.
Key Takeaway:
The use of the 2001 Census figures for the readjustment of the constituencies and an alleged bid to make Muslims less politically relevant was questioned.
Why was delimitation in Assam put on hold:
- Family planning programmes:
- Delimitation panels were set up thrice (1952, 1962 and 1972) regularly before the exercise was suspended in 1976 in view of the family planning programmes in the States.
- Security risks:
- The last Commission was set up in 2002, but before its exercise was completed in 2008, the delimitation of four north-eastern States – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland – was deferred due to “security risks” through separate presidential orders.
- Jammu and Kashmir were also left out of that delimitation exercise for similar reasons.
- Updating after NRC:
- Apart from law-and-order, various organisations in Assam were opposed to delimitation in 2008 as they wanted it to be done only after the updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to weed out “illegal immigrants”.
What is delimitation?
- About:
- Delimitation is the process of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and State Assembly constituencies based on a recent census to ensure each seat has an almost equal number of voters.
- It is ideally carried out every few years after a Census by an independent Delimitation Commission formed under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act.
- The Commission will design and finalise its guidelines and methodology to delimit the constituencies.
- Process:
- During the delimitation exercise, the Commission will keep in mind the physical features, existing boundaries of administrative units, facility of communication, and public convenience and as far as practicable, the constituencies will be kept as geographically compact areas.
- Once the Commission finalises a draft proposal for the delimitation of constituencies, it will be published in the Central and State gazettes for inviting suggestions and objections from the general public
- Need for 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”.
- Constitutional Basis of delimitation:
- Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.
- Under Article 170, states get divided into territorial constituencies as per the Delimitation Act after every Census.
- Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up a Delimitation Commission.
- The President carried out the first delimitation exercise (with the Election Commission’s help) in 1950-51.
- The Delimitation Commission Act was enacted in 1952.
- Delimitation Commissions have been set up four times — 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under the Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002.
- There was no delimitation after the 1981 and 1991 Censuses.
Delimitation Commission:
- About:
- The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
- According to the ECI’s order, the Commission will design and finalise its own guidelines and methodology for the purpose of delimiting the constituencies.
- Composition:
- Retired Supreme Court judge
- Chief Election Commissioner
- Respective State Election Commissioners
- Functions:
- To determine the number and boundaries of constituencies to make the population of all constituencies nearly equal.
- To identify seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, wherever their population is relatively large.
- Features:
- In case of difference of opinion among members of the Commission, the opinion of the majority prevails.
- The Delimitation Commission in India is a high-power body whose orders have the force of law and cannot be called into question before any court.
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.
Pic Courtesy: Freepik
Content Source: The Hindu