Recently, the Union Home Minister cautioned against the spread of misinformation regarding the process and outcomes of the delimitation exercise. Even after so many years, the process of delimitation of electoral constituencies from the start to end has remained notably opaque. This is where Vidhi steps in.
Delimitation is the process of drawing the limits of territorial constituencies for elections to representative bodies in India such as the Parliament, the State Legislatures, and the local bodies. Through this primer, we provide a detailed and descriptive overview of the delimitation process which is carried out in India along with the stakeholders that are involved.
Our earlier report titled ‘The States in Parliament’ discusses the larger picture and details the constitutional principles surrounding delimitation as well as discusses looming democratic issues and suggests alternative suggestions for reform. However, there exists little information on the multiple stages involved in the delimitation process, starting from the initial stage of passing a new delimitation act to the final stage of publishing the delimitation order. We seek to throw some light on these opaque, under-researched, and unknown elements of delimitation.
The primer is an easy-to-understand accessible version which demystifies the process of delimitation through simple visuals and examples. It simultaneously highlights the relevance of a periodic census, the enactment of the Delimitation Act, the stakeholders involved in the exercise of delimitation, and the avenue for public consultations available. This is a necessary conversation to have and we at Vidhi plan to initiate this – one step at a time!
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About the Authors
Mayuri is a Milon K Banerji Senior Resident Fellow at Charkha, Vidhi’s Constitutional Law Centre. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D from Gujarat National Law University. She obtained her LL.M in Constitutional and Administrative law from Gujarat National Law University in 2017 with a R B Mehta Gold Medal. She graduated with a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from Amity Law School, Lucknow in 2016. Her area of interest includes constitutional law with current research focus on areas of federalism and local government. She regularly writes research papers for various journals, national & international seminars, conferences, etc. Prior to joining Vidhi, she worked as an Assistant Professor of Law.
Anshul Dalmia is a Research Fellow with the Charkha Team (Centre for Constitutional Law). He recently graduated in 2024 from the University of Oxford with the Bachelor of Civil Law degree as a KC Mahindra Scholar wherein he received the Oxford Law Faculty Prize for the course on 'Constitutionalism in Asia'. He has also completed his undergraduate degree (BA LLB (Hons.)) from the WB National University of Juridical Sciences in 2017 as a gold medallist (Rank 1) in the year 2022.
