Watch Nidhi Razdan: Delimitation in India

Gulf News

The next general election in India is only months away but India’s political parties are anxiously waiting for the next big political exercise after that — the delimitation of assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies which is due in 2026 which could drastically change the next parliament and what it looks like.  A few months ago, BRS leader K.T. Rama Rao said the next delimitation could lead to a strong people’s movement in the Southern States, since it likely to reduce the number of Lok Sabha seats in the South. This is because population is a key criteria for delimitation and Southern states argue that they will be punished for better socio economic indices.  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/how-delimitation-could-redefine-indian-politics-1.100229276  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #India #DelimitationinIndia

Transcript

00:00Well, we're all focused on India's general election that's only a few months away, but

00:08political parties here in India are also looking ahead at the next big political event. And

00:13that will be the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies after 2026. Now, this essentially

00:19is the redrawing of boundaries of different constituencies based on the population that

00:24would be conducted after the census. This is important because since pretty much the

00:301970s, there has been a freeze on the redrawing of constituencies. This was first delayed

00:35to the 2001 census, and then it was further frozen until 2026. And all indications are

00:42that the government now will go in for a redrawing of constituencies. Now, why is this creating

00:47a political controversy? Because based on projections of population, states in the north

00:52of India will definitely gain seats in the Lok Sabha, while states in the south of India

00:57will lose seats. Because population is an important element of this. And the constitution

01:04basically had envisaged that delimitation would take place every 10 years, along with

01:08the census. That didn't happen. And now we are likely to see a very big rejig of the

01:15way India's parliament looks. Leaders from the south of India are already warning that

01:20this is unfair, that southern states are being punished for having better policies

01:24on population control, on literacy, etc. But the fact also is that the way the Lok Sabha

01:30stands today, it isn't really quite a fair representation of people because the population

01:36has changed so drastically. And therefore it does need a change. And there are two ways

01:40that this can be done. One would be to rejig the current constituencies, increase in some

01:46states, decrease in others. Or it would be to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats,

01:51in which case states will not lose seats, but others will still gain them, like Uttar

01:55Pradesh, which could go up from 80 to as many as 143. Either way, this is something that

02:02will have huge political ramifications here in India for regional parties, for India's

02:08federal structure and its democracy.

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