Written By

Pramode Mallik

Why are the southern states against delimitation?

Will their number of seats in the Parliament come down while that of states from northern India go up after the delimitation?

Though Union Home Minister Amit Shah has tried to assuage the feelings of the southern states by assuring them that no south Indian state woud lose a single seat in the Parliament due to delimitation, these states are far from being convinced.

They fear that as the population of the north Indian states has registerd a steep hike, their number would increase dramatically, while the number of southern states would fall.

These states are apprehensive of yet another kind of North Indian domination.

What Is Delimitation?

Delimitation is the process of redrawing the boundaries of the constituencies of Lok Sabha and state assemblies keeping in mind the demographic changes.

It also decides how many seats would be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

According to Articles 80 and 170, delimitation should be carried out after each census. This exercise should be carried out by Delimitation Commission, to be set up through a law passed by the parliament.

The delimitation was carried out in 1951, 1961 and 1971 as the population increased from 36.1 crore to 43.9 crore and 54.8 crore. Consequently, the number of seats was increased from 494 to 522 and 543.

Delimitation Postponed Till 2026

However, in 1976, when the family planning campaign was at its peak, it was decided to freeze the process of delimitation for 25 years to encourage birth control and ensure that the states with higher population do not get an advantage over those states that have controlled population.

It was done by introducing the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, that remained till 2000. In 2001, 84st Constitutinal Amendment was passed to postpone the delimitation process for yet another 25 years. It will come to an end in 2026.

The population of the country has increased to 141 billion and so the number of seat in the Lok Sabha should increase to 753.

Why Are Southern States Upset?

At present the number of seats in Lok Sabha from southern states is 129, about 24% of 543, the total nuber of seats.

It consists of Telangana: 17 seats, Andhra Pradesh: 25 seats, Kerala: 20 seats, Tamil Nadu: 39 seats and Karnataka: 28 seats.

If the formula of one Lok Sabha seat for the population of 20 lakh is implemented, the share of southern states would be- Telangana: 20, Andhra Pradesh: 28, Kerala: 19, Tamil Nadu: 41 and Karnataka: 36.

The total will be 144 seats in the house of 753 or about 19%, a fall of 5%.

Will Delimitation Widen North-South Divide?

On the other hand, the number of seats from North Indian states like UP, Bihar and MP would go up.

While the share of UP may increase from 80 to 128, that of Bihar may go up from 40 to 70 and that of MP from 29 to 47.

Similarly the share of Maharashtra is expected to go up from 48 to 68, and that of Rajasthan from 25 to 44 seats.

Southern States Revolt

This is the reason why the southern states are up in arms against the proposed delimitation. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, “It is evident that if delimitation is carried out based on the latest population ratio, it will be a severe injustice to the southern states.”

He also suggested that “to prevent such unfairness, previous delimitation exercises were conducted using the 1971 census as the basis, following Constitutional amendments.”

Rejecting Amit Shah’s assurance as “not trustworthy”, he accused the BJP of using the proposed delimitation as a weapon to silence the southern states.

The southern states have sunk their differences and decided to unite on the issue. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced an all-party meeting to be held on March 5 to galvanise “political consensus” in the state on the delimitation exercise.