The Lok Sabha Speaker has nominated 15 MPs from Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh as “associate members” of the Delimitation Commission to assist the panel in redrawing parliamentary and assembly constituencies of the northeast states and the Union Territory.

The 15 MPs include two Union ministers — Kiren Rijiju and Jitendra Singh.

The government had constituted the Delimitation Commission, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, to redraw Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and the northeast states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland.

What is delimitation?

Delimitation is the process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province with a legislative body.

The job of delimitation is assigned to a high-powered body. Such a body is known as the Delimitation Commission or a Boundary Commission.

In India, such Delimitation Commissions have been constituted four times - in 1952 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1952; in 1963 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1962; in 1973 under Delimitation Act, 1972; and in 2002 under Delimitation Act, 2002.

The Delimitation Commission in India is a high-powered body whose orders have the force of law and cannot be called into question before any court.

These orders come into force on a date to be specified by the President. The copies of its orders are laid before the Lok Sabha and the state legislative Assembly concerned, but no modifications are permissible therein by them.

Why is the exercise being carried out now?

A Delimitation Commission was set up under the Delimitation Act, 2002, to readjust the division of each state and Union Territory into territorial constituencies for the purpose of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections on the basis of the 2001 Census figures.

The commission completed the delimitation exercise and the Delimitation Order, 2008, in respect of all the states, except four states in the northeast.

On February 28 this year, the government cancelled its earlier notifications, which deferred delimitation in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh due to security issues, saying the exercise could be carried out now as the previous circumstances ceased to exist.

The cancelation of the notifications had paved the way for delimitation in the four states.

Who are the new members of the commission?

The Delimitation Commission had recently written to Speaker of Lok Sabha Om Birla and presiding officers of the Assemblies of the four northeast states to name associate members of the panel. Jammu & Kashmir at present has no Legislative Assembly. It is a Union Territory with a provision of a legislature. 

Members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of states, for which the Delimitation Commission is set up, are drawn in as associate members to help the panel in its task.

According to a Lok Sabha bulletin of May 26, Union minister Kiren Rijiju, and Tapir Gao will represent Arunachal Pradesh. Assam will be represented by Pallab Lochan Das, Abdul Khaleque, Rajdeep Roy, Dilip Saikia and Naba (Hira) Kumar Sarania.

While Manipur will have Lorho S. Pfoze and Ranjan Singh Rajkumar in the Delimitation Commission, Nagaland will be represented by Tokheho Yepthomi.

Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone Hasnain Masoodi, Jugal Kishore Sharma and Union minister Jitendra Singh will be the panel’s associate members from Jammu & Kashmir.

Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and state election commissioners of Jammu & Kashmir and the four states will be its ex-officio members.

The commission will delimit the constituencies of Jammu & Kashmir in accordance with the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, and of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland in accordance with the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 2002, a law ministry notification had said.

SC notice on plea against delimitation process 

The Supreme Court sought responses from the Centre and the Assam government on a plea seeking that delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in the state be deferred until the completion of Census 2021.  

A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde agreed to hear the plea seeking quashing of this year’s February 28 order which “rescinded” an earlier notification of February 8, 2008 that had deferred the process of delimitation for Assam.

The bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy, issued notices to the Centre, Assam government and the delimitation commission and asked them to file their responses on the plea which has challenged the delimitation process based on 2001 Census.

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