Previous Year Question
How many Delimitation Commissions have been constituted by the Government of India till December 2023?
One
Two
Three
Four
Correct Answer: D
Detailed Solution
Till December 2023, four Delimitation Commissions had been constituted for nationwide delimitation of electoral constituencies in India:
Commission | Governing law |
First Delimitation Commission, 1952 | Delimitation Commission Act, 1952 |
Second Delimitation Commission, 1963 | Delimitation Commission Act, 1962 |
Third Delimitation Commission, 1973 | Delimitation Act, 1972 |
Fourth Delimitation Commission, 2002 | Delimitation Act, 2002 |
Delimitation means determining or redrawing the boundaries of territorial constituencies for the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. Its purpose is to secure, as far as practicable, balanced representation among constituencies based on population.
Article 82 empowers Parliament to provide by law for the readjustment of Lok Sabha constituencies after every Census. Article 170 contains the corresponding provision for the readjustment of State Legislative Assembly constituencies.
A Delimitation Commission is a high-powered body. Under the Delimitation Act, 2002, it consists of a retired Supreme Court judge as Chairperson, the Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commissioner nominated by the Chief Election Commissioner and the State Election Commissioner concerned as ex-officio members.
The final delimitation orders possess the force of law. They cannot be challenged before a court, and neither the Lok Sabha nor the concerned State Legislative Assembly can modify them.
The allocation of Lok Sabha seats among States based on the 1971 Census was frozen for an extended period. The Eighty-fourth Constitutional Amendment continued the freeze until the publication of figures from the first Census conducted after 2026. Following the Eighty-seventh Amendment, constituency boundaries were readjusted on the basis of the 2001 Census without changing the total number of seats allocated to each State.
The Delimitation Commission constituted for Jammu and Kashmir in 2020 concerned a special regional exercise. The four Commissions counted in the UPSC question are the nationwide Delimitation Commissions.