Delimiting The Practices Of Delimitation
- IJLLR Journal
- Sep 12
- 2 min read
Bhavya Mishra, IIMT College of Law, CCSU
INTRODUCTION
With the decline of colonialism in the middle of the twentieth century, most of the newly formed nations which were former colonies of Britain adopted the Democratic system of government, and India was not an exception. The very first step towards establishing a system of representative democracy has been to allocate the voting population into spatial units, called ‘electoral constituencies’ or ‘districts’. The word “Delimitation” literally means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body. The job of delimitation is assigned to a high power body and this body is known as Delimitation Commission or a Boundary Commission. In India, such Commissions have been constituted four times – in 1952 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1952; in 1963 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1962; in 1973 under the Delimitation Act, 1972 and in 2002 under the Delimitation Act, 2002. This exercise is constitutionally mandated to ensure that the principle of “one person, one vote” is upheld, resulting in fair and equitable representation regardless of diversity throughout the legislative landscape.
The present study focuses on Delimitation activities throughout the history of India and majorly investigates the transparency and accountability of the Delimitation Commission by studying different controversies and debates.
This paper tries to analyze how effectively do the existing legal and institutional mechanisms ensure fair and equitable delimitation in India, while throwing light upon what are the strengths and weaknesses of the Delimitation Commission's structure and mandate and to what extent is there judicial oversight in the delimitation process, and what is its scope?
Simultaneously analysing what is the practical role of Parliament and State Legislatures in shaping and scrutinizing delimitation orders? The historical review of delimitation in India reveals a consistent effort to create an independent commission to carry out the tasks. Here we discuss the problem of transparency in the delimitation process, and the negative existence of meaningful avenues for meaningful public participation? While advocating for reforms and providing alternative provisions for enhancement of the existing laws.
