Delimitation Tests Modi’s Political Acumen as Delay Digs Anomalies
PM Narendra Modi, CMs of Jharkhand Hemant Soren & Tamil Nadu MK Stalin (Image credit X.com)
Will Modi Duck Delimitation Like Indira & Vajpayee?
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, March 11: If the freeze not extended by another 25 years, delimitation to raise strength of the Lok Sabha is imminent. The lack of delimitation is in violation of Article 14 and Article 82 (2) (a) of the Constitution. Yet, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will host another show of strength on March 22 to stall the 2026 Delimitation.
“Ten states will account for 75 to 77 per cent of the Lok Sabha seats per draft Delimitation report for 2026. The Lok Sabha seats of Jharkhand will increase from 14 to 24 but seats reserved for the scheduled tribes will remain same, that is five,” said Supriyo Bhattacharya, general secretary of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
Bhattacharya claimed that Bihar and Rajasthan may see their Lok Sabha seats almost doubling, 40 to 79 and 25 to 50 respectively. Jharkhand’s share will also almost double.
But Chief Minister Hemant Soren seeks to play the tribal card to throw his weight behind Stalin. “Uttar Pradesh’s Lok Sabha seats will jump from the current 80 to 143; Madhya Pradesh’s 29 to 52; Gujarat 26 to 43; Maharashtra 48 to 76; Karnataka 28 to 41; and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana together 42 to 54,” added Bhattacharya.
The Constitution (42nd) Amendment in 1976 froze delimitation to raise the strength of the Lok Sabha for 25 years. In 2001, the Vajpayee government extended it for another 25 years. But Modi asserts that he does what others postponed for lack of political will. Thus, Modi has to assert his political will in 2026 to not extend the freeze till 2051.
The lack of delimitation to raise the strength of the Lok Sabha violates Article 14 and Article 82 (2) (1) of the Constitution, wrote Gautam R. Desiraju and Deekhit Bhattacharya in their book ‘Delimitation and States Reorganisation: For a Better Democracy in Bharat’.
Article 14 guarantees equality of citizens. Article 82 (2) (a) mandates population per parliamentary constituencies. “Not carrying out delimitation to raise the strength of the Lok Sabha deprives the citizens the right to equality, for the principle of each vote same value fails,” wrote Desiraju and Bhattacharya in the book.
Thus, the voters in Tamil Nadu currently have more value for their votes than the voters of Bihar. Incidentally, the draft delimitation report quoted by the JMM functionary is also on the basis of 2001 Census. Modi is also pursuing the idea of holding simultaneous elections.
The population data will again be 25 years older if the delimitation at all takes place in 2026. The 2021 Census appears almost forgotten for all practical purposes. Experts have begun wondering if the next Census will at all take place in 2031.
Anomalies further extend to the fact some of the Lok Sabha MPs represent almost the population of Sweden. Muhammed Hamdulla Sayeed of the Congress polled 25,726 votes to win the Lakshadweep Lok Sabha seat. The women reservation in parliament, bill already passed, is also said to be incumbent on delimitation.
Etala Rajinder of the Bharatiya Janata Party almost polled 10 lakh votes to win the largest parliament seat in India, Malkajgiri in Telangana, in the 2024 elections. Sayeed and Rajinder both have to nurse their parliamentary constituencies with ₹5 crores annually as MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) fund.
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