Delimitation|| Election Commission

 Why in News?

 The Assam state Cabinet  lately approved the junction of four districts  with their constituent districts. On 27th December, the Election Commission  blazoned the process of delimitation of Assembly and administrative constituencies in Assam, saying it would be  rested on Census data from 2001. Assam presently has 14 Lok Sabha constituencies and 126 Assembly constituencies. 

What's Delimitation? 

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 administrative influence. 
• The Constitution authorizations that the Commission’s orders are final and can not be questioned before any court as it would hold up an election indefinitely. 
• When the orders of the Delimitation Commission are laid before the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly, they can not prompt any  revision in the orders.

 Need:

•  To give equal representation to equal corridor 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 Officers

 What's the Process of Delimitation? 

• 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.
•  Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up a Delimitation Commission. 
• The first delimitation exercise was carried out by the President( with the help of the Election Commission) in 1950- 51. 

The Delimitation Commission Act was  legislated in 1952. 

Delimitation Commissions have been set up four times — 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under the Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002. 

There was no delimitation after the 1981 and 1991 Census.

•  What are the Issues with Delimitation?
•  States that take little interest in population control could end up with a lower number of seats in Parliament. The southern countries 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 wasn't changed. 
• The 87th Amendment Act of 2003 handed for the delimitation of constituencies on the base of 2001 Census  and not 1991 Census . still, this can be done without altering the number of seats distributed to each state in the Lok Sabha.
•  The Constitution has also limited the number of Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha seats to a maximum of 550 & 250  independently and adding populations are being represented by a single representative.