Delimitation Commission

Subject: Polity

Section: Elections

Concept :

Recently, Delimitation Commission finalize the Delimitation Order for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.

Delimitation Commission of India

The Delimitation Commission of India, also known as the Boundary Commission of India, is a commission established by the Indian government under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act.
The commission’s principal responsibility is to redraw the borders of the various assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on a recent census. During this practice, the representation from each state remains constant.
The seats for SC and ST in a state, on the other hand, are adjusted by the census.
Delimitation is the process of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and State Assembly constituencies based on a recent Census to ensure that each seat has an almost equal number of voters.
The last delimitation exercise took place in 1976. While the current boundaries were drawn based on the 2001 Census, the number of Lok Sabha and State Assembly seats remained frozen based on the 1971 Census.
In 2002, the Constitution was amended to place a freeze on the exercise until the first Census conducted after the year 2026.
The basic objective of this is a fair representation, fair geographical division for all the political parties, and to follow the motto of ” One Vote One Value.”

Constitutional Provisions

Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.
Under Article 170, States also get divided into territorial constituencies as per Delimitation Act after every Census.