The Election Commission of India (ECI) recently announced that it had commenced the process of delimitation of state assembly and parliamentary constituencies of Assam. The last delimitation in Assam happened in 1976. The current delimitation exercise is being conducted based on the 1971 Census.
What is the delimitation exercise?
- Delimitation is the process of redrawing boundaries of state assembly seats and the Lok Sabha seats to represent the changing population numbers.
- The main purpose of the delimitation exercise is to ensure equal representation to equal segments of a population.
- Since the population does not increase uniformly, delimitation reflects the changes in the distribution of the population over a period of time.
- In Assam, the population stood at 1.46 crore in 1971. In 2001, it has increased to 2.66 crore. The population did not increase uniformly across all areas of the state.
What is Delimitation Commission?
- The Delimitation Commission is an independent commission responsible for conducting delimitation exercises.
- It is set up by the Central Government under the Delimitation Commission Act.
- This commission jointly works with the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct the delimitation.
- It includes a retired Supreme Court Judge, the Chief Election Commissioner and the respective state’s State Election Commissioners
- It functions without any executive influence. Its orders are final and cannot be questioned before any court as such actions would postpone elections indefinitely.
How is delimitation carried out?
Article 82 of the Constitution requires the Indian Parliament to enact a Delimitation Act after every Census. Once this Act is in force, the Central Government must set up a Delimitation Commission.
The Delimitation Commission is required to determine the number and boundaries of constituencies in such a way that the population of all seats are same, as far as it is possible. It is also tasked with the identification of seats reserved for SCs and STs.
