The political map of the country is set to undergo a drastic change with the proposal to redraw Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in 24 states and union territories, including an increase in the number of reserved seats, getting the presidential assent. It took the Election Commission three years, 130 public sittings in 67 cities and towns across the country and more than Rs 20 crore to complete the process for 3,726 Assembly and 513 Lok Sabha constituencies. With the presidential nod to the delimitation, the Election Commission can now start the exercise of preparing electoral rolls in the new constituencies. A look at the gigantic exercise:
The Constitution
Under Article 82 of the Constitution, Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census. After the Act comes into force, the Centre constitutes a Delimitation Commission, which demarcates the boundaries of the parliamentary seats. The present delimitation is based on the 1971 Census. The Constitution was specifically amended in 1976, not to have delimitation till the first census after 2000. Thus, the constituencies carved out on the basis of the 1971 Census are still continuing.
The Census data of 2001 was released on December 31, 2003. The new delimitation exercise is based on these figures. However, the total number of seats in the Assemblies and Parliament — decided as per the 1971 Census — will not change after the current exercise, and will, in fact, remain unaltered till the first census taken after the year 2026. The next delimitation will also take place only then. This exercise does not take into account Jammu and Kashmir.
This is the fourth delimitation exercise since the Constitution was framed.
Basis of delimitation
Population is the basis of demarcation. As far as possible, each Assembly and parliamentary constituency in a state is to have the same population. Since that may not be practically possible, the Election Commission allows a deviation to the extent of 10 per cent plus or minus from the state average (total population divided by number of constituencies). Each constituency should ideally also be a geographically compact area, with administrative units, facilities of communication and public convenience. The delimitation exercise is undertaken keeping this in mind in addition to the population factor. Care is also taken to ensure that an Assembly constituency ordinarily does not extend to more than one district.
Every state gets representation in the Lok Sabha in proportion to its population as per Census figures. No Assembly constituency is to extend to more than one parliamentary constituency.
The process
As far as possible, the delimitation of constituencies in a district is done starting from north to north-west and then proceeding in a zig-zag manner to end at the southern side.
Reserved seats
Census figures are taken into account to reserve seats for Scheduled Castes and Tribes on the basis of their population in proportion to the total. While ST seats are those where their population as compared to the total number is the largest, constituencies where SC population is “comparatively large” are reserved for them. Currently, 79 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 41 for Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha.
While the Constitution specifies that the total number of seats in the Assemblies and Parliament has to remain the same as determined by the 1971 Census, it allows the number of reserved seats to be revised as per the 2001 Census. So, the number of reserved seats will increase with the current delimitation exercise.
Political fortunes
Many political leaders are set to lose their carefully nurtured constituencies as these may now fall in the reserved category, may be merged with others or split. This list includes Bolpur (Somnath Chatterjee), Latur (Shivraj Patil), Shillong (P R Kyndiah), Bulandshahr (Kalyan Singh), Bikaner (Dharmendra), Faridkot (Sukhbir Singh Badal), Dausa (Sachin Pilot), Shahjahanpur (Jitin Prasada), Agra (Raj Babbar), Tura (P A Sangma) and Gopalganj (Sadhu Yadav). Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency is getting ‘de-reserved’ as is Akbarpur in Uttar Pradesh, which was earlier held by Chief Minister Mayawati.
Karnataka angle
With President Pratibha Patil giving her assent to delimitation in almost all parts of the country with immediate effect, it is unclear when the Assembly polls would be held in Karnataka, where President’s rule will expire by May end. With delimitation notified, the next round of Assembly elections in the state would have to be held under redrawn constituencies. The Election Commission has said that it would require five months for updating the electoral rolls for the delimited constituencies and has indicated August 31 as the earliest possible date for publication of final rolls. As Assembly elections to a state can only be announced after the publication of the final rolls, polls in Karnataka look difficult before mid-October. The BJP and JD(S), however, want polls at the earliest.
States left out
Meghalaya and Tripura, where the Assembly poll process is already on, are exempted from the delimitation notification as of now. Here delimitation would come into force from March 20. Besides, four North-eastern states — Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland — and Jharkhand are excluded due to local resistance to the delimitation exercise. While delimitation in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland has been stayed by the Gauhati High Court, the appeal of the Centre in respect to Manipur is pending in the Supreme Court.
Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/278466.html
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