The Lok Sabha Speaker has nominated 15 MPs from Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh to assist the Delimitation Commission

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  The Lok Sabha Speaker has nominated 15 MPs from Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh to assist the Delimitation Commission

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1. Delimitation Commission - The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India which works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India. Delimitation means the act or process of fixing limits of territorial constituencies in a country to represent changes in population. It determines the number and boundaries of constituencies to make the population of all constituencies nearly equal, identifies the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (wherever their population is relatively large). In case of difference of opinion it follows the majority. Its orders have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court. It is headed by the former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai.
2. The appointments are made after the request of Delimitation Commission to the presiding officers of Lok Sabha and the Assemblies to nominate associate members.
3. Delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir - The Commission intends to delimit the constituencies of J&K in accordance with the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act (2019). According to the act the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly are to increase with due reservations for SC and STs. It also includes few seats reserved for Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The J&K experienced the last delimitation exercise in 1995. It has often been argued that the delimitation exercise was held back deliberately to ensure greater representation of Kashmir in the legislative assembly and Parliament rather than Jammu.
4. Delimitation in North-eastern States - The delimitation in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 2002. The delimitation exercise in Assam will be resumed after 12 years which was put on hold in 2008 after situation in the state was reported not to be conducive because of serious threat to the peace and public order.
5. Constitutional Background - Article 82 – It provides the Parliament to enact a Delimitation Act after every Census; The Census Act (1948) – It provide the permanent scheme of conducting population Census in a ten years interval; Article 170 – It provides division of State into territorial constituencies as per Delimitation Act after every Census. The first delimitation exercise was carried out by the President (with Election Commission) in 1950-51. The Delimitation Commission Act was enacted in 1952.
6. Structure - It is composed of the retired Supreme Court judge, Chief Election Commissioner and Respective State Election Commissioners.
7. Objectives - To provide equal representation to equal segments of a population; Fair division of geographical areas to provide equal opportunities or all political parties; To follow the principle of ‘One Vote One Value’.
8. Present Situation - The 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 froze the allocation of seats in the Lok Sabha to the states and the division of each State into territorial constituencies till the year 2000 at the 1971 level. Further, the 84th Amendment Act of 2001 extended this ban on readjustment for another 25 years (i.e., upto year 2026), without affecting the total number of seats based on the 1971 census. The 84th Amendment Act of 2001 also empowered the government to undertake readjustment and rationalisation of territorial constituencies in the states on the basis of the population figures of 1991 census. Later, the 87th Amendment Act of 2003 provided for the delimitation of constituencies on the basis of the 2001 census and not 1991 census.
9. The road ahead - The appointment of associated members from the respective States and Lok Sabha will help the delimitation commission to resolve grievances of these States and to maintain transparency and integrity of the delimitation commission.

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