Delimitation - IE - 03/01/23

Context:
The Assam state Cabinet recently approved the merger of four districts with their constituent districts. On 27th December, the EC announced the process of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Assam, saying it would be based on Census data from 2001. Assam currently has 14 Lok Sabha constituencies and 126 Assembly constituencies.
Relevance:
GS2
About:
-Delimitation literally means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country to represent changes in population. The Delimitation Commission is to work without any executive influence.
-The Constitution mandates that the Commission’s orders are final and cannot be questioned before any court as it would hold up an election indefinitely.

->Need:
-To provide equal representation to equal segments of a population.
-Fair division of geographical areas so that one political party doesn’t have an advantage over others in an election.
-To follow the principle of “One Vote One Value”

->Composition:
-The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
-Retired Supreme Court judge
-Chief Election Commissioner
-Respective State Election Commissioners

->Issues with Delimitation:
-States that take little interest in population control could end up with a greater number of seats in Parliament. The southern states that promoted family planning faced the possibility of having their seats reduced.
-In 2002-08, Delimitation was done based on the 2001 census, but the total number of seats in the Assemblies and Parliament decided as per the 1971 Census was not changed.
-The Constitution has also capped the number of Lok Shaba & Rajya Sabha seats to a maximum of 550 & 250 respectively and increasing populations are being represented by a single representative.

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