Delimitation #1: History and Consequences

Shruti Rajagopalan wrote this excellent piece on the topic of delimitation (and possible solutions):

“Delimitation refers to the action of fixing the boundary or limits of something. In Indian politics, it means determining the number of constituencies, their size in each state, and their boundaries.”

 

There is a very good reason for updating the number of MP’s in the Lok Sabha from each state periodically. The intent is that an MP, anywhere in the country, represent the same number of citizens. This principle implies that if the population of a place rises, then those places should have more MP’s. (The Constitution sets an upper limit on the number of Lok Sabha MP’s, which has been periodically updated via Amendments since independence).

 

Then:

“In 1976, (the 42nd Amendment) froze the number and boundary of constituencies in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures according to the population numbers from the 1971 census.”

The official reason for the freeze was because delimitation would “reward” states that didn’t practice population control and “penalize” (southern) states that did so. The real reason though, says Rajagopalan, was one word: money.

 

Back then, there was no federalism on money matters. Money had to come from the Center, which allocated money to the states based on need. The poorer states had greater population and higher population growth rates. What’s that got to do with delimitation? Aha, remember, all money bills have to pass the Lok Sabha (not Rajya Sabha), so the more the MP’s from a state, the more power it had in Lok Sabha, including, as we just saw, on critical money transfer matters:

“Thus, a fiscally centralized system only punishes wealthier southern states through a reduction of proportional seats in the Lok Sabha.”

Maharashtra is an outlier on this front: like the south, it is richer and its population growth is low. But because it is the “recipient of the highest in-migration”, its population increases and it would benefit from delimitation!

 

In 2001, when the 1976 moratorium expired, delimitation was revisited. The Vajpayee government extended it by 25 years because it was a coalition government and couldn’t alienate the south, and there were moves to carve out states out of Bihar and MP, and it wasn’t clear how reallocation would work.

 

Today, it is approaching the 50 year mark since the last delimitation exercise. Continuing to avoid delimitation creates other problems. First, the average MP represents 2.5 million people (that’s far too many). See graph below for context:

Second, such a poor ratio of MP per population degrades further what/how much MP’s (can) do to address the needs of their constituents.

 

This then is the history of why we are where we are, and all its negative consequences. In the next blog, we’ll go over the ways forward that Rajagopalan suggests.