North vs South: The Growing Tension Over Delimitation

🌺The delimitation debate has resurfaced once again, with Amit Shah recently dismissing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin’s concerns over the reduction in the number of constituencies in southern states as unfounded. A day earlier, M.K. Stalin had said the delimitation exercise was like “a sword hanging over the head of South India”.

𝕴While addressing BJP workers at the inauguration of party offices in Coimbatore, Tiruvannamalai, and Ramanathapuram, the Home Minister stated that the Modi government had made it clear in the Lok Sabha that after delimitation, not a single seat in any southern state would be reduced on a pro-rata basis.

ꦿDMK leader A Raja, however, says the key question remains unanswered—whether the pro-rata basis would be determined by existing constituencies or population. He reiterated that delimitation based on population is unacceptable, as it would unjustly benefit the northern states and punish the southern states for successfully implementing population control policies.

What is Delimitation?

🎶Delimitation is a constitutional process conducted after Census to adjust parliamentary and assembly seats based on population data. It determines the number of seats and redraws constituency boundaries in each state. It was carried out after the 1951, 1961 and 1971 Census.

✨In 1971, it was decided that a delimitation exercise would take place in 2001. However, when the time came, only constituency boundaries were redrawn, while the number of seats remained unchanged due to opposition from southern states. 

Over the years, population growth has been uneven, with states like Uttar Pradesh 𝓡and Bihar seeing much larger increases than southern states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The southern states worry if a delimitation were to take place, it would unfairly benefit the northern states.

When will delimitation happen?

The next Census, originally supposed to be released in 2021, is expected in 2025. Delimitation of Lok Sabha 🏅seats will follow and may be completed by 2028. 

💮The 84th Constitutional Amendment states that delimitation can only occur after the first Census conducted post-2026. Hence, experts argue the delay was deliberate to align the process with this provision because if the census had taken place in 2021 as scheduled, delimitation would have happened after the 2031 census.

What the South says

🏅Southern states fear that delimitation based solely on population will disadvantage them, as they have controlled population growth while northern states have not. Despite Amit Shah’s assurances, they argue that even if their seats remain unchanged, an increase in northern seats would still be unfair.

🥂In October 2024, Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin questioned why people should limit family size if Lok Sabha seat allocation is based on population, jokingly suggesting, “why not aim for 16 children?”

Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu ꦺechoed similar concerns, considering reversing laws discouraging large families. 

In May 2023, Outlook’s “1.4 Billion Questions”🦄 issue featured a report by Shahina KK and Snigdhendu Bhattacharya on the challenges of delimitation. The article noted that as the freeze on delimitation nears its end, southern states are protesting, arguing that allocating seats based on population would be unfair to those that have successfully controlled their growth.