Delimitation Commission - PIB - 24-08-2020

The Delimitation Commission is a high-level body set up by an act of Parliament to carry out the delimitation process, that is, fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country to represent changes in population.

Delimitation is the process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country to represent changes in population.

As a result of the delimitation process, the number of seats allocated to different states in the Lok Sabha and the total number seats in a Legislative Assembly of a state can also alter.
The redrawing of boundaries is based on a recent census.
The body that does the delimitation exercise is called the Delimitation Commission.

How is delimitation done?

After every census, the Parliament will enact a Delimitation Act, as per Article 82.
As per Article 170, the states also get classified into territorial constituencies after every census.
Once the Act is enacted, the Central Government sets up a Delimitation Commission.
The Commission then exercises the delimitation.

Delimitation Commissions in the Past
The first delimitation exercise was conducted by the Indian President (with the help of the Election Commission) in 1950-51. The Delimitation Commission Act was enacted in 1952.

There have been four Delimitation Commissions:

1952, 1963, 1972, 2002
There were no such commissions after the census in 1991 and 1981.