One Person, One Vote, One Value? Delimitation And The Constitutional Debate On Representation In India

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Kaustubham Gautam

ABSTRACT

The principle of “one person, one vote” appears simple, yet its constitutional application in India remains deeply contested. Delimitation has emerged as one of the most important constitutional debates in modern India, posing very intricate and challenging questions relating to democratic equality, representative democracy, and the federal character of the Indian Constitution. While delimitation aims to see that the system of parliamentary representation is in conformity with the demographic changes, it has also posed a number of questions related to the distribution of political power between the States.

This report analyses the constitutional framework for delimitation as provided by Articles 81, 82 and 170 of the Constitution of India, along with its history from the Forty-Second, Eighty-Fourth and Eighty-Seventh Constitutional Amendments. It also examines the contemporary debate regarding the constitution by looking at the recommendations of the ‘High Level Committee on Simultaneous Elections’, as well as works of ‘Robert A. Dahl’, ‘Granville Austin’, ‘A.K. Verma’, and ‘Tamesh Kumar Pandey and Priti Saxena’, along with constitutional doctrines from ‘S.R. Bommai v. Union of India’. It uses a doctrinal and analytical method by contemplating upon the relevant constitutional doctrines, reports, judgments, and scholarly writing.

445. ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE, ONE VALUE_ DELIMITATION AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL DEBATE ON REPRES

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