Delimitation

It is the process of fixing the number of seats and boundaries of territorial constituencies in each State for the Lok Sabha and Legislative assemblies. 

It also includes determining the seats to be reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in these houses.

Articles 82 and 170 of the Constitution grant the Parliament the authority to readjust the distribution of seats following each census.

The Parliament enacts the Delimitation Commission Act and establishes an independent high-powered panel, the Delimitation Commission, to conduct the delimitation exercise.

The Commission is an independent body whose orders cannot be challenged in any court of law.

For this purpose, the Parliament enacted Delimitation Commission Acts in 1952, 1962, 1972, and 2002. 

However,  42nd Amendment Act, 1976 froze the delimitation as per the 1971 Census till 2000 in order to encourage population control. Thus, there were no delimitation Acts in 1981 and 1991.

The freeze was extended by the 84th Amendment Act, 2001 till the census after 2026.

The present delimitation of constituencies has been done on the basis of 2001 census under the provisions of Delimitation Act, 2002.

According to Article 330 and Article 332 of the Constitution, the allocation of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assemblies is adjusted based on the 2001 census data.

The Constitution of India addresses the delimitation of local bodies in Article 243K and Article 243ZA.