Southern states have expressed concerns about delimitation, stating it could disproportionately affect their representation in the Parliament.
Concerns of Southern States with Delimitation
- Population control paradox: Delimitation based on population may reduce the number of seats for southern states and dilute their political representation, penalizing them for effective governance on population control.
- Federalism and regional autonomy: Significant shift in representation could weaken federalism as national policies might be tailored to suit northern states’ priorities.
What is Delimitation?
- It is the process of fixing the number of seats and boundaries of territorial constituencies in each State for the Lok Sabha and Legislative assemblies.
- Constitutional Provisions:
- Articles 82 and 170: Provide for readjustment and the division of each State into territorial constituencies (Parliamentary constituencies and Assembly constituencies) by such authority and in such manner as Parliament may, by law, determine.
- Articles 330 and 332: provide for refixing number of seats reserved for SCs and STs in Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies of States.
- Delimitation Commission: Constituted based on Delimitation Act enacted by Parliament, it demarcates the boundaries of the constituencies.
- Till date, Delimitation Commissions have been Constituted 4 times under Delimitation Commission Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972, and 2002.
