Delimitation Commission of India

Delimitation Commission of India

» Delimitation Commission or Boundary Commission of India is a Commission established by Government of India under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act.
» The main task of the Commission is to redraw the boundaries of the various assembly and Lok Sabha Constituencies based on a recent census (Art. 82).
» The representation from each state is not changed during this exercise. However, the number of SC and ST seats in a state are changed in accordance with the census.
» The Commission in India is a high power body whose order have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court.
» These orders come into force on a date to be specified by the President of India in this behalf. The copies of its orders are laid before the House of the People and the state Legislative Assembly concerned, but no modifications are permissible there in by them.
» In India, such Delimitation Commissions have been constituted 4 times-in 1952,1963,1973 and in 2002.
» The recent Delimitation Commission was set up on 12 July 2002 (after 2001 census) with Justice Kuldip Singh (retd. Judge of Supreme Court of India) as its Chairperson.
» The recommendation of this commission was approved by the union cabinet on Jan. 10, 2008 and by the then President Pratibha Patil on 19 February 2008.
» The Constitution of India was specifically amended in 2002 [84th Amendment Act, 2001, which amended the provisions 170 (3) of Art. 82] not to have delimitation of constituencies till the first census after 2026.
» The recent delimitation has been done on the basis of census 2001.
» Election Commissioners of all the States and Union Territories, along-with the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India are the members of the Delimitation Commission.

No. of Reserved /General seats after delimitation

Note.: Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Prades, Nagaland and Jharkhand are such states which could not be covered by the Delimitation Commission 2002.