Delimitation, a process aimed at expanding the Indian Parliament and representatives of the public, is facing major pushback from the southern states of the country. Increasing public representation is facing strong opposition from southern Indian states. While southern CMs argue that it will reduce their parliamentary representation, the Central government has dismissed these concerns.
After the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Union Home minister Amit Shah announced the Centre will take up two tasks – the national census and the delimitation exercise.
Shah, at a public meeting in Coimbatore on Wednesday, February 23, claimed that the delimitation exercise, scheduled next year, would not impact the political representation of southern states.
Shah’s response comes after Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin alleged that the state faces the threat of losing eight Lok Sabha seats if the delimitation process is implemented. He has called for an all-party meeting on March 5 to discuss the issue.
With so much political debate surrounding the delimitation exercise, let us first understand the term. Delimitation is a process of redrawing boundaries of electoral constituencies including the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies. Its outcome determines how many seats every Indian state will get in the Parliament.
According to the Constitution of India, each state should be proportional to its population. This is where the delimitation exercise is conducted through Articles 82 and 170.
Article 82 – After every national census, Parliament must pass a Delimitation Act to redefine the boundaries and number of Lok Sabha constituencies based on population changes. The Delimitation Commission is then set up to carry out this process.
Article 170 – It governs the delimitation of State Legislative Assemblies, determining the number of seats in each state based on population.
The delimitation process is based on the national census or in other words, population census, carried out by a commission set up under the Delimitation Act of the Parliament.
As mentioned earlier, the delimitation exercise is directly proportional to the population of the concerned Indian state. This means that Indian states with a higher population get more representatives and states with a lesser population get fewer MPs.
The basic idea is to ensure each state is represented equally in the Indian Parliament.
The last population census was conducted in 1971 under the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. At that time, the number of MPs in the Indian Parliament was fixed at 543 seats. Since then, this number has remained intact to this date after it was frozen by different Union governments.
The first freeze came in 1971. The second freeze came in 2001 under the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government, which postponed it to 2026, a year from now. The purpose was to encourage population control measures, mainly in the Hindi-speaking belt of the country.
The next full delimitation exercise is expected in 2026, after a national census, which has been delayed since 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then no national census has been conducted.
There is a real fear among the southern states – Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana and Karnataka – that their representation or MPs in the Parliament will decrease if the delimitation exercise is conducted.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin recently said that the southern states have done an impeccable job in controlling population growth when compared to the northern Indian states, often referred to as the BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh).
Speaking in the Assembly, he explained how the delimitation exercise could impact Tamil Nadu. He used the example of Bihar, which currently has 40 MPs, while Tamil Nadu has 39. When comparing the populations of both states, Bihar has a significantly larger population.
According to Stalin, Bihar’s population has grown 1.5 times greater than that of Tamil Nadu; thus, the number of MPs representing Bihar will naturally go up.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president, KT Rama Rao has supported Stalin’s stand that delimitation of Parliamentary constituencies based on population affects the entire South India.
During his tenure as Telangana IT minister, he had said that southern states cannot be penalised for performing well in controlling population. “What will be more atrocious is that two states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, after delimitation together will have more MPs than the entire southern India,” he said.
“States that have done well (in population control) because of the advice of the government of India will now be penalized. Wisdom needs to prevail. We are all proud Indians. The South is the largest contributor to India’s economy. Nineteen percent of the population is contributing nearly 35 percent of India’s GDP,” he had said.
The new Parliament has the strength to hold 888 MPs. According to a research paper, India’s Emerging Crisis for Representation, after the 2026 population census, there will be sizable shifts in political power. If no state is to lose representation, the Lok Sabha would have to consist of 848 MPs.
If this is followed, Uttar Pradesh would have a whopping 143 seats, Bihar at 79 (currently 49), Tamil Nadu at 49 (currently 39) while Kerala would remain unchanged at 20.
Although there is an increase in the number of representatives in each Indian state, as Stalin predicted, the number of MPs in the BIMARU states; ie; the BJP-ruled states, will improve while the southern states will witness slower growth.
Experts have mixed views on the 2026 delimitation exercise. While some see it as a necessary step to ensure fair representation based on population changes, others warn of its potential to create political and regional imbalances. It could lead to power shifting towards the BIMARU states, mostly governed by the BJP.
Experts also suggest that southern states may lose influence in Parliament. Currently, Andhra Pradesh is the only southern state where the BJP is in a coalition, partnering with the Telugu Desam Party.
A former IAS officer, Rangarajan R, has suggested that the Parliamentary allocation of seats must continue the 1971 census, however, a change in Legislative Assembly seats must be brought based on the 2026 population census.
Former West Bengal Governor, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, suggested another freeze until there is overall population stability.
Therefore, even though the delimitation exercise is important for fair representation in the Parliament, experts say it should be done carefully to avoid regional conflicts, especially the growing North-South divide.
