Ashi SharmaAIR 12 · CSE 2024 · 274 wordsTheir whole copy
Opening · a date or context
The 42CAA & 84CAA froze the number of seats in parliament as per the 1971 census. but as its deadline nears, there is increased debate over the delimitation exercise.
Delimitation (article 82, 170) is an exercise to redraw seats and constituency boundaries to ensure one person one vote one value. It is done by a statutory Delimitation Commission.
Body · points
Challenges by misrepresentation
(1) distorts regional representation in the house. - during 2019 elections a UP MP represented 30L people, Lakshadweep MP → only 55,000. (2) decreases ability of people to access their MPs and hold them accountable. (3) penalises the southern states for undertaking successful population control and incentivises race to bottom.
④ goes against principle of fair representation under one person one vote value.
Ramifications of population based Delimitation
Positive ① adjust representation in parliament as per present context ② facilitate implementation of 106CAA for 1/3rd women representations. ③ increase number of seats to over 800+ in the house.
Negative ① Increase the north south divide as per estimates northern states may gain over 32 seats , while southern states may lose over 24 seats. ② Population is a major criteria for FC devolutions, delimitation may shrink tax devolutions for southern states ③ may fuel sons of the soil policies across states (e.g HR, KN laws for local reservation ④ can trigger inter state migrations ⑤ decrease the ability of southern states to influence national policies due to reduced political clout.
Close · a way forward
Delimitation is a constitutional inevitability, but it must be done only by keeping all states in confidence. The Punchi Commission recommendation to provide equal representation in Rajya Sabha (like USA) is worth exploring.