Delimitation Commission

COMMENTS ON DELIMITATION ACT IN MANIPUR
1. The govt 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 cease to exist.
2. The ‘order’ issued by the Legislative department of the law ministry said, ‘It appears that the
delimitation of the constituencies as envisaged under the Delimitation Act 2002 could be carried out.
3. Definition: The act or process of fixing limit or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a

country to represent change in population.
4. Why is it Needed
(a) To provide equal representation to equal segments of a population.
(b) Fair division of geographical areas so that one political party doesn’t have an advantage
over others in an election.
(c) To follow the principle of “One Vote One Value”
5. How is it Carried Out
(a) Under article 82, the parliament enacts a delimitation act after every census.
(b) Once the act is in force, the union govt sets up a delimitation commission.
(c) Delimitation exercise was first carried out in 1950-51.
(d) The Delimitation Act was enacted in 1952.
(e) Delimitation commissions have been set up for times – 1952,1963,1973,2002.
(f) There was no delimitation after 1981 and 1991 census.
6. Functions :- To Determine the number and boundaries of constituencies to make population of

all constituencies nearly equal.
(a) To identify seats reserved for SC and ST, wherever their population is relatively large.
(b) In case of difference of opinion among members of the commission, the opinion of the
majority prevails.
(c) The delimitation commission in India is a high power body whose orders have the force
of law and cannot be called in question before any court.
7. Delimitation Commission
(a) The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works
in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
(b) Composition:
(i) Retired Supreme Court judge
(ii) Chief Election Commissioner
(iii) Respective State Election Commissioners
8. Impact on Manipur
(a) The political scenario in Manipur is right now heavily un-balanced, this has led to
politicians ruling by sectarian emotions. The ground situation in Manipur continues to be fragile
with regular ethnic clashes further condescending into law and order problems throughout the
state. Vote bank politics or caste based politics usually fans the problems by supporting a
particular tribe or by other way and means.
(b) Manipur has two parliamentary seats in the Lok Sabha. While the Inner Manipur
constituency is an unreserved seat covering the non-tribal plains people, the Outer Manipur
constituency is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (STs).
(c) The government recognized, that various Naga and Kuki-Zomi-Chin tribal groups residing
in the hill areas of Manipur were different in various ways from the Meitei people residing in the
Manipur valley and therefore needed a separate parliamentary seat. However, the population
strength of the hill tribals was found to be inadequate to get a parliamentary seat. So, now we
can see representation from these tribes as well.
(d) The problem was that the Outer Manipur constituency is a reserved seat for an
ST candidate. As a result, the non-tribal people of the Thoubal subdivision can vote but they
cannot contest as candidates in their own parliamentary constituency, which may change now.
(e) For the people in the eight non-tribal assembly constituencies, the issue is not just
about the denial of their right to contest the Lok Sabha election. It is about the violation of their
constitutional and citizenship rights.
(f) A rough estimate puts the number of Naga voters at around 4.2 lakh and the Kuki-Zomi
voters at around 3.2 lakh (Rosita 2019). Given the history of conflict between some Naga tribes
and some Kuki tribes, the election often turns into a contest between a Naga candidate and a
Kuki-Zomi candidate. To be fair, there is considerable diversity of voices within these tribal
groups and there has rarely been a consensus on which candidates represent the groups as a
whole. But, the trend is towards consolidation based on the tribe of candidates, and major
parties accordingly pick their candidates with this trend in mind.
(g) The tribal people of Manipur need an effective voice of their own in Parliament. That is
why one seat was allotted to them in the first place. Yet, by adding a block of valley voters to
this reserved constituency, that very intent seemed to have been undermined.
8. Problems with Delimitation
(a) States that take little interest in population control could end up with a greater number
of seats in Parliament. The southern states that promoted family planning faced the
possibility of having their seats reduced.
(b) In 2008, Delimitation was done based on the 2001 census, but the total number of seats
in the Assemblies and Parliament decided as per the 1971 Census was not changed.
(c) The constitution has also capped the number of Lok Shaba & Rajya Sabha seats to a
maximum of 550 & 250 respectively and increasing populations are being represented
by a single representative.

Delimitation Commission

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Delimitation Commission

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

COMMENTS ON DELIMITATION ACT IN MANIPUR

3. Definition: The act or process of fixing limit or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a

(a) To provide equal representation to equal segments of a population.

(c) To follow the principle of “One Vote One Value”

5. How is it Carried Out

(c) Delimitation exercise was first carried out in 1950-51.

(d) The Delimitation Act was enacted in 1952.

(e) Delimitation commissions have been set up for times – 1952,1963,1973,2002.

(f) There was no delimitation after 1981 and 1991 census.

6. Functions :- To Determine the number and boundaries of constituencies to make population of

(i) Retired Supreme Court judge

(ii) Chief Election Commissioner

(iii) Respective State Election Commissioners

8. Problems with Delimitation

You might also like