A gazette notification by the Union Law and Justice Ministry, on February 28, has paved the way for resumption of the delimitation exercise in four states from the North East – Nagaland, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. The notification, issued by the Legislative Department of the Ministry, informed that the President, being satisfied that the circumstances that led to the deferment of the delimitation exercise in the State of Nagaland have “ceased to exist is pleased to rescind the notification” issued on February 8, 2008.
Among others, the ‘circumstances’ for deferment as per the 2008 notification cited a stay order by the Guwahati High Court after a tribal organisation in Nagaland filed a Writ Petition alleging “abnormal growth of population registered at the Census in some areas to get more Assembly seats.” In addition, there were also apprehension that with each tribe having its own distinct traditional boundaries, “on the basis of which the existing district and assembly constituency boundaries were largely demarcated,” fresh delimitation exercise “involving transfer of assembly seats from tribal/linguistic zone” might be “another unacceptable.” Apprehensions were also expressed by the Government of Nagaland that given the “delicate law and order situation in the State and the ongoing cease fire and the peace talks,” the delimitation exercise “will have the potential for disrupting the tribal equilibrium and peace and public order.”
Consequently, apprehending “a serious threat to the peace and public order” the delimitation exercise in the State of Nagaland along with three other states in North East - Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Manipur was deferred “with immediate effect and until further orders.”
The February 28 notification rescinded the order and in doing so, cleared the deck for delimitation exercise in Nagaland in “accordance with the provisions of Delimitation Act, 2002 (33 of 2002).”
What is Delimitation then? As per the Election Commission of India (ECI), it literally means “the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body.” The ‘job’ is assigned to a high power body known was as Delimitation Commission (DCs) or a Boundary Commission whose orders “have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court” and the “copies of its orders are laid before “the House of the People and the State Legislative Assembly concerned, but no modifications are permissible therein by them.”
Such Commissions have been constituted 4 times – in 1952, 1963, 1973 and the latest in 2002 under Delimitation Act, 2002. However, the delimitation exercises were undertaken under two conditions – the total number of existing seats as allocated to various States in Lok Sabha, as well as existing seats in the Legislative Assemblies, fixed based on 1971 Census “remain unaltered till the first Census to be taken after the year 2026” i.e. 2031. As a result, each State is to be divided into the same number of constituencies according to existing seats and on the basis of the Census figures of 2001 as published by the Census Commissioner.
The ‘Guidelines and Methodology’ of the exercise, among others, informed that the population of each constituency shall be delimited to ensure, so far as practicable, “be the same throughout the State.” In doing so, the total population of the State (2001 Census) “shall be divided by the total number of assembly constituencies in the State” to obtain per assembly average. While accepting the constituencies cannot be delimited “having exactly equal population in all cases,” it allowed for “a deviation to the extent of 10 percent plus or minus from the State/district average...” Further, all assembly constituencies in a district shall be confined within the territorial limits of that district or “shall not ordinarily extend to more than one district.”
In the case of Nagaland, it remains unclear whether the exercise would be done on the basis of 2001 Census, which the present Chief Minister of Nagaland, had once regarded as “competitive inflation.” Mostly done for electoral gains, the assertion was somewhat justified when the State’s population saw a decrease from 19.90 Lakh in 2001 Census to 19.79 Lakh in 2011 (or by 00.58%); a rare phenomenon given the state showed a decadal growth rate of 64.41 percent in the previous decade (1991-2001). No wonder, in 2008, when there were protests by some tribes against Delhi’s decision to defer with the delimitation exercise while rest opposed it.
While the Government of India seems to be convinced that the ‘circumstances’ for the deferment “cease to exist” now, the delimitation exercise has potential to create further fissure in the delicate social fibre and ‘tribal equilibrium’ as expressed before. Given these complexities, the exercise must be done holistically with utmost care involving all stakeholders.
