Resisting delimitation can be more harmful for southern States

The BJP’s push for an immediate delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies has triggered almost reflexive opposition from the Congress, while other opposition parties are more guarded in their responses. The government has not revealed its exact proposals, but party representatives who met with government interlocutors have come away with the following understanding: the Centre is proposing an expansion of the Lok Sabha from the present 543 members to 816, which will be distributed among States as per their existing share of seats; a third of them will be reserved for women; a Delimitation Commission will be appointed immediately to carve out new Lok Sabha constituencies based on the 2011 Census, within States. State Assemblies will undergo similar changes.

The Congress objections to the proposals are the following. First, it demands that delimitation must be based on the latest Census, which is currently underway; second, that the 33% reservation must be implemented immediately within the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha; and third, that the growing disparity between States in absolute numbers of seats is unacceptable, though their respective proportions will remain the same. The Congress has not suggested what a fairer method of distribution of Lok Sabha seats between States might be.