Context: In 2026, a delimitation of the constituencies that will elect members of the Lok Sabha would be carried out based on population estimates of the 2021 decennial census.

Background

• Article 82 of the Indian Constitution has provisions for a periodic population-based marking out or re-arrangement of constituencies. It provides for the readjustment of seats allocated to the House of the People to the States and the division of each State into territorial constituencies.
• A delimitation freeze was put in place through the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1976. This was extended through the 84th Amendment. This extension is to end in 2026.

What would be the Impact of delimitation

• A delimitation of the constituencies that will elect Members of the Lok Sabha, following the population figures returned by the next decennial Census, is to take place in 2026.
• Need to increase number of members: We cannot have, should not have, the same number of Members of Parliament — 543 — representing a vastly increased population in the Lok Sabha.
• Mathematically speaking, the higher the number of people per constituency, the lower the impact each voter has on parliamentary representation — clearly an undesirable situation.

Reduced representation to States that stabilised their population: Re-arranging and standardising the number of people per constituency through the scheduled delimitation exercise will inevitably lead to a reduced representation for States that have managed to stabilise their populations, and to a higher representation for States that have not stabilised their populations.

• Considering the Census data for 2011, almost half (48.6%) of our population (of approximately 1.38 billion) is contributed by the States of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

Issues with population-based marking: A population-based marking out or re-arrangement of constituencies, as envisaged in Article 82 of the Constitution, will have the effect of giving more MPs to the States and Union Territories that have let their numbers grow, and will give markedly less MPs to those that have held their numbers in some check.

• Realising the anomaly that a delimitation based on Census data would cause, a delimitation freeze was put in position by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi through the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1976. 
• This was extended by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee through the 84th Amendment.
• It is this extension that is to end in 2026, placing us at a crossroads.

Significance
Upholding principles of electoral democracy

• The delimitation exercise will help uphold the principles of electoral democracy.
• The delimitation exercise will help correct the present scenario where a considerably higher number of people per constituency has had the undesirable effect of lowering the impact of each voter in parliamentary representation.

Key Suggestion
There are two alternatives before us:

1. Another freeze: One, we go in for another freeze, this time not for any specific period but for until all States have achieved population stabilisation.
2. Mathematically equitable formula: Two, we request demographic and statistical experts to devise a mathematical model along the lines of the ‘Cambridge Compromise’ based on a mathematically equitable “formula” for the apportionment of the seats of the European Parliament between the member-states.

Road Ahead

• The delimitation exercise scheduled for 2026 marks an important crossroad for Indian electoral democracy. The concerns associated with the possible adverse impact of the delimitation exercise should be adequately addressed and an equitable solution planned for.
• The population-stabilising States of India that is Bharat, which include all the southern States, must continue to enrich our legislative and parliamentary processes as they have been doing since the time of the Imperial Legislative Council, with no penalties having to be paid for their sense of responsibility. We need to limit population, not representation.

By: Shubham Tiwari