DELIMITATION COMMISSION

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Context - The Supreme Court of India has declined the petition to stay the J&K delimitation report.

Details

The Supreme Court has ordered the Union government to file an affidavit replying to a challenge to the delimitation exercise launched in Jammu and Kashmir following the withdrawal of special status granted to J&K under Article 370 and its bifurcation.
The Supreme Court has rejected the petition to stay the tabling of the final draft report of the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission in Parliament.
- The petition questioned why the delimitation of J&K has been initiated when Article 170 of the Constitution said that such an exercise for the entire country was due only in 2026.
- The petition also argued that the Centre had seized the jurisdiction of the Election Commission of India by notifying the delimitation of J&K.

Background

The Final Draft published by the Delimitation Commission for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has started a controversy.
The 3 member Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission headed by a former Supreme Court judge, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, has submitted the final draft report, notifying the new boundaries, names and numbers of Assembly seats.
The Delimitation report has added 6 Assembly seats to Jammu, 1 to Kashmir, and redrawn Assembly as well as Lok Sabha seats.
Out of the 90 Assembly Constituencies in the region, 43 will be part of the Jammu region and 47 of the Kashmir region.
Under the draft published, some villages in one constituency are surrounded by villages of another.
The Delimitation Commission of Jammu and Kashmir is chaired by retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and includes Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and the State Election Commissioner as ex-officio members.
As per Article 170, the states get classified into territorial constituencies after every census, according to the Delimitation Act.

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About Delimitation Commission of India

Delimitation means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body.
Article 82 - Parliament by law enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.
The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
The main task of the commission is redrawing the boundaries of the various assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on a current census.
The representation of each State is not changed during this exercise. However, the number of SC and ST seats in a state has changed under the census.
The present delimitation of constituencies has been done based on the 2001 census under the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 2002.
The Commission is a powerful and independent body whose orders cannot be challenged in any court of law.
The orders are laid before the Lok Sabha and the respective State Legislative Assemblies. However, modifications are not permitted.
Delimitation commissions have been set up four times in the past; 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002, under the Delimitation Commission Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002.
The present delimitation of parliamentary constituencies within states has been done based on the 2001 census.
According to the 84th amendment, the present constituencies carved out based on the 2001 census shall continue to be in operation till 2026.

Functions of Delimitation Commission

The Delimitation Commission has to determine the number and boundaries of constituencies in such a manner that the population of all seats is the same, as far as practically possible.
The Commission also identifies the seats to be reserved for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes communities, in areas where their population is significant.
The Commission releases draft proposals to the public through the Gazette of India and the official gazettes of states, and also in regional language newspapers.
It also conducts public sittings wherein the public’s opinion is heard through written or oral representations.
If found appropriate, changes are made to the draft proposal.
The final order is published in the Gazettes and comes into effect by a date specified by the President.

Delimitation challenges

The present delimitation is based on the census of 2001, whereas the total number of seats in the Parliament and the Legislative Assemblies is fixed as per the census of 1971.
The Constitution of India has put a cap on the maximum number of seats in the Lok Sabha to 550 and Rajya Sabha to 250. Therefore an increasing number of populations are being represented by a single representative.