Delimitation in India: Challenges and Concerns
Yogendra Yadav, a member of Swaraj India and national convenor of Bharat Jodo Abhiyaan, addresses the complexities of delimitation in India, focusing on removing biases and refining voters' lists.
Impact of Delimitation
- Delimitation, or redistricting, involves adjusting the number of seats to reflect population changes, ensuring equality in representation.
- In India, delimitation has three components:
- Reallocation: Adapting to population changes within states and urban areas.
- Redrawing Boundaries: Defining constituency boundaries, such as in Haryana.
- Reservation Decisions: Allocating reserved seats for Scheduled Castes and Tribes.
- The constitutional principle is "one person, one vote," ensuring parity in representation.
- Delimitation is meant to occur after every census, ideally every 10 years.
History of Delimitation
- Delimitation occurred in 1952-1956, and after the 1961 and 1971 censuses.
- The 42nd Amendment froze delimitation in 1976 for 25 years due to uneven population growth.
- In 2001, the freeze was extended but allowed intra-state seat reallocation and boundary redrawing.
- Partial unfreeze allowed creation of new constituencies like Gurugram and modification of reservation allocations.
Current Options and Challenges
- Options for delimitation moving forward:
- Complete freeze as in 1976, though not advocated presently.
- Partial freeze as in 2001, maintaining state seat allocations while adjusting within states.
- Complete unfreeze returning to original constitutional provisions, with potential drastic impacts.
- Yadav suggests a permanent freeze on current ratios and adopting a partial freeze approach.
Fault Lines in Indian Society
- Cultural, economic, and political fault lines exist and could be exacerbated by reallocation:
- Linguistic differences between Hindi and non-Hindi regions.
- Economic disparity, particularly between the South and West versus other regions.
- Electoral dominance of the BJP in certain areas.
- Yadav calls for a compromise to strengthen federalism:
- North Indians to refrain from demanding more representation based on population.
- South and West Indians to curb demands for greater federal revenue shares.
Additional Concerns Over Delimitation
- The delimitation process is not constitutionally defined, requiring new laws for each occurrence.
- Concern over non-partisan execution amidst institutional strain, particularly regarding gerrymandering.
- Recent instances in Jammu and Kashmir, and Assam showed signs of biased delimitation.
- Issues with overly large constituencies and the need for a balance without federal imbalance.
- Reservation allocation lacks formalized rules, sometimes perceived as unfair.
- Disparity in electoral systems and voters' lists between central and local elections.
- Emphasizes the need for a unified national voters' list before considering "one nation, one election."