{"id":38089,"date":"2025-02-27T19:21:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T13:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=38089"},"modified":"2025-03-24T19:01:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T13:31:16","slug":"delimitation-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/27-02-2025\/delimitation-debate","title":{"rendered":"Delimitation Debate: Why Are Southern States Wary?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity &amp; Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Union Home Minister has assured that no parliamentary constituencies in southern states will be reduced as a result of the proposed delimitation exercise in response to concerns raised by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Understanding Delimitation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Delimitation is the process of <strong>redrawing the boundaries of parliamentary and legislative assembly constituencies<\/strong> to reflect changes in population. It aims to:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ensure fair representation based on demographic shifts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Adjust the number of seats allocated to different states.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Determine reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This system was designed to balance population growth with political representation and uphold the democratic principle of <strong>&#8220;one citizen, one vote, one value.&#8221;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Constitutional Provisions:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 82:<\/strong> After every Census, Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act to redefine constituency boundaries.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 170: <\/strong>The total number of seats in state assemblies is adjusted according to the Delimitation Act after each Census.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Who Conducts Delimitation?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>Delimitation Commission is an independent body<\/strong> established through a Parliamentary Act, is responsible for overseeing the process.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The authority, and its decisions cannot be challenged in court. The Election Commission of India (ECI) provides technical assistance for the exercise. However, the Supreme Court has ruled in <strong>2024 that delimitation orders <\/strong>can be reviewed if they <strong>violate constitutional values.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Composition: Chairperson<\/strong>: A retired Supreme Court judge\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Members: <\/strong>The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) or a commissioner appointed by the CEC.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>State Election Commissioners<\/strong> of the respective states<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>History of Delimitation in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Parliamentary Authority: <\/strong>The power of delimitation (deciding the number and boundaries of constituencies) is vested in the Parliament.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This power has been exercised four times through the Delimitation Commission Acts of <strong>1952, 1962, 1972, and 2002.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>42nd Amendment Act (1976)<\/strong>: Freezes the allocation of Lok Sabha seats to states and the division of territorial constituencies based on the 1971 Census.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This freeze was intended to protect states that successfully implemented population control measures from losing their representation in Parliament.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>84th Amendment Act (2001):<\/strong> Allowed readjustment and rationalization of territorial constituencies based on the 1991 Census.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>However, it did not permit an increase or decrease in the number of seats allotted to each state in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The main objective was to maintain uniformity in population representation without disturbing the total number of seats.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>87th Amendment Act (2003): <\/strong>Changed the basis of delimitation from the 1991 Census to the 2001 Census.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Like the 84th Amendment, it did not alter the number of seats allocated to each state in Parliament and State Assemblies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It was primarily aimed at ensuring fairer representation based on more recent population data.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why Is Delimitation Being Revisited?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The next delimitation exercise is expected to be based on the <strong>2021 Census (delayed due to the pandemic).<\/strong> This has raised concerns among South Indian states, as their population growth has been lower compared to the North Indian states.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If delimitation follows the <strong>historical patterns (1951, 1961, 1971 and 2002)<\/strong>, the number of Lok Sabha seats could increase from 543 to 753 based on the population ratio of 20 lakh people per constituency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why Are Southern States Worried About Delimitation?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Northern states (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, etc.) have experienced higher population growth, which could result in them gaining more seats at the expense of the South.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Southern states (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana) fear a loss of representation despite better governance and population control measures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What\u2019s Next?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Potential Increase in Total Seats:<\/strong> Instead of reducing seats from any state, the total number of Lok Sabha seats may be increased to accommodate growing population disparities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>2026 Review: <\/strong>The next delimitation can happen only after the first Census post-2026, likely to be the 2031 Census.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Women\u2019s Reservation Act: <\/strong>The implementation of 33% women\u2019s reservation may also impact seat adjustments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-in\/news\/India\/why-are-southern-states-wary-of-delimitation-understanding-the-exercise\/ar-AA1zT4R6\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Union Home Minister has assured that no parliamentary constituencies in southern states will be reduced as a result of the proposed delimitation exercise in response to concerns raised by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38089"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38092,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38089\/revisions\/38092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}