The delimitation exercise in Assam: why, how, and why

• The new year has started with the EC kicking off the process of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Assam.
• The EC announced that the government had asked it in November to redraw constituency boundaries in Assam, where delimitation has not been done since 1976.

Importance of delimitation

• Regular updation: Boundaries of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies are required to be updated from time to time to ensure that the population size in each seat is roughly the same.
• Ensuring that one vote should have the same value: irrespective of the constituency.

Reasons for delimitation being done in Assam

• Constitutional norms: boundaries of Assembly constituencies should be updated after every decadal Census.
• 4 times delimitation: for the whole country — under Delimitation Acts in 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002 — and remains in abeyance till 2026.
• Last 2008 delimityation: the government decided to leave out Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland & Jammu and Kashmir.
• Security concerns cited: the potential for disturbing law and order, among others.

Reasons for the use of 2001 Census

• Article 170: population numbers to be used for drawing boundaries of constituencies would be as per the 2001 Census until the first Census after 2026 is published.
• For Jammu and Kashmir: J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 passed by Parliament had mentioned the population in the 2011 Census as the basis of delimitation.

Prelims Takeaway

• Delimitation
• Census