In news– Several Political parties have objected to a draft report by the Delimitation Commission that proposed redrawing of boundaries of assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu & Kashmir.
About Delimitation Commission-
- The Delimitation commission of India is a commission established by the Government of India under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act.
- The main task of the commission is redrawing the boundaries of the various assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on a recent census.
- The representation from each State is not changed during this exercise.
- The number of SC and ST seats in a state are changed in accordance with the census.
- The Commission is a powerful and independent body whose orders cannot be challenged in any court of law.
- This Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
- It consists of:
- Retired Supreme Court Judge.
- Chief Election Commissioner.
- Respective State Election Commissioners.
- The orders are laid before the Lok Sabha and the respective State Legislative Assemblies but modifications are not permitted.
- When the constitution came into existence, it had fixed the number of Seats to Lok Sabha as not more than 500.
- For the first general elections for the Lok Sabha as well as legislative Assemblies for 1951-52, the Election Commission had divided the entire country into viable territorial divisions of parliamentary / assembly Constituencies.
- However, after that this task was given to the Independent Delimitation Commission.
- Delimitation commissions were set up four times in the past — 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002.
- The present delimitation of constituencies has been done on the basis of the 2001 census figures under the provisions of Delimitation Act, 2002 and shall continue to be in operation till the first census after 2026.
Note– Population is the basis of allocation of seats of the Lok Sabha and every State gets representation in proportion to its population as per census figures. The purpose is the rationalization of the structure and composition of the electoral constituencies, on the principle of “ One vote one value”. The assembly election in Karnataka, conducted in three phases in May 2008, was the first to use the new boundaries as drawn by the 2002 delimitation commission.
What is Delimitation?
- Delimitation stands for defining the boundaries of assembly or parliamentary constituencies in a country governed by a legislative set up.
- The process of delimitation actually redraws the size and scope of the constituencies and also decides the number of seats that have to be reserved for the Scheduled castes.
- Delimitation process is repeated in regular intervals to ensure that the different constituencies have a similar number of votes.
- Under Article 82 of the Indian Constitution, the Parliament by law enacts a Delimitation Act after every census.
- After the Act comes into force, the Central Government constitutes a Delimitation Commission.
Source: The Hindu
