Delimitation in NE States - A Problem Solved

DELIMITATION IN NE STATES

INTRO

1.         Fairness in representation has been the most ardent and challenging issue for any est democratic nation, in fact this desire of representation gave birth to many modern democracies. In our democratic set up the states are allotted seats in the house of representatives at national and state levels based on their population.

2.         The constitution of India has constitutional provisions which cover the method of representation by Representation of Peoples Act 1950 which deals with the preparation and revision of electoral rolls and the Representation of Peoples Act 1951 which describes in detail the aspects of conduct of elections and post-election disputes. The Election Commission of India which is an autonomous constitutional body of India is vested with the responsibility to conduct free and fair election at all level and to adhere to the values which are enshrined in the Constitution.

3.         Upon the completion of each census the allocation of seats in the House of the People to the States and the division of each state into territorial constituencies shall be readjusted by the authority of Law and Parliament. The process of delimitation comes into play to achieve the division of each state in to various constituencies and under the Constitutional Provision a Delimitation Commission is constituted by the President of India.

AIM

PART I : BRIEF ABOUT DELIMITATION

4.         Definition. Delimitation means the drawing of boundaries. The boundaries may be domestic, national and International, but the most general use of this term is in context with electoral boundaries. Article 82 (Readjustment after each census) makes provision for delimitation of the electoral boundaries. It is the process of allocation of number of Seats and their demarcation into territories. Under Article 82, the Parliament by law enacts a Delimitation Act after every census. After coming into force commencement of the Act, the Central Government constitutes a Delimitation Commission. This Delimitation Commission demarcates the boundaries of the Parliamentary Constituencies as per provisions of the Delimitation Act. Delimitation commissions have been set up four times in the past viz. 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under Delimitation Commission acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002.

5.         Purpose of Delimitation.In India, the main basis for allocation of seats to various States in the Lok Sabha is Population of the state. The division of each state into the territorial constituencies is to be readjusted after the completion of a census so that the Population-Seat ratio is maintained within the state and throughout the Union. So the purpose is the Rationalization of the structure and composition of the electoral constituencies, on the principle of “ One vote and one value”.

6.         Ban on Delimitation.The 42nd Amendment Act 1976 had put a ban on any further delimitation of the Constituencies till the year 2000. So after the 42nd amendment act 1976, the total number of seats in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have remained the same. This ban was imposed mostly on the account of the fear that a few statesmay get more seats in the Lok Sabha on the basis of a large population and may not take much interest in the family planning. So, indirectly this was done so that states do not get biased towards the family planning measures.

7.         First Delimitation Commission.When the constitution came in to existence, it had fixed the number of Seats to Lok Sabha as not more than 500. For the First General Elections for Lok Sabha as well as legislative Assemblies for 1951-52, the Election Commission had divided the entire country into viable territorial divisions of Parliamentary / Assembly Constituencies. However, after that this task was given to the Independent Delimitation Commission.  Accordingly, separate delimitation commissions were set up in 1952 (basis of 1951 census), 1962 (basis of 1961 census), 1972 (basis of 1971 census).

8.         Delimitation and 84th Amendment Act 2002. The 84th Amendment Act 2002 extended the freeze till the year 2026. This was based upon the calculations of the population planners that by 2026 India will be able to stabilize the population. So next allocation of seats would be carried out on the basis of the Census after 2026 and the number of seats will not change by then. By enacting the 84th amendment Act,2002,  it was also decided to undertake readjustment and rationalization of territorial constituencies in the States, without altering the number of seats allotted to each State in the House of the People and Legislative Assemblies of the States, including the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes constituencies, on the basis of the population ascertained at the census for the year 1991, so as to remove the imbalance caused due to uneven growth of population/electorate in different constituencies. So 84th amendment Act did two things:-

            (a)       Freeze the fresh delimitation till 2026.

            (b)       Allowed to readjust the seats.

9.         Delimitation Act 2002. In pursuant with the 84th Amendment Act 2002, the Delimitation Act 2002 was passed. Under this act Delimitation Commission was constituted in July 2002. The Chairman of this commission was Justice Kuldeep Singh.  Justice Kuldeep Singh was a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India. The Ex-officio members of this Commission were an election commissioner of India and state election commissioners. So this commission started working on the basis of 1991 census data. But later in 2003, the word “1991” in the article 82 of the constitution was removed and replaced by 2001. This means that the work done till then by the commission became obsolete. The commission later restarted the work as it was now entrusted with the task of readjusting all parliamentary and assembly constituencies in the entire country and in all the states of India, except the state of Jammu and Kashmir, on the basis of population ascertained in 2001 Census. Later, The Guwahati High court stayed the delimitation exercise in respect of the Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur (5 states) on the basis of the disputes in the census Figures. In Manipur the work of delimitation was later resumed after Supreme Court stayed the order of the Guwahati High Court.

10.       Current Position of Delimitation. In the 2009 general elections, 499 out of the total 543 Parliamentary constituencies were newly delimited constituencies. This affected the National Capital Region of Delhi, the Union Territory of Puducherry and all the states except Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Manipur and Nagaland. Many instances, a constituency with the same name may reflect a significantly different population demographic as well as a slightly altered geographical region.

11.       Background to delimitation of four NE States.The government on 28 Feb 2020 constituted a Delimitation Commission, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, to redraw Lok Sabha and Assembly Constituencies of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the North Eastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland.Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and state election commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir and the four NE states will be the ex-officio members.The Commission will delimit the constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, and of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland in accordance with the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 2002.On February 28, the government had cancelled its earlier notifications which deferred delimitation in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh due to security issues, saying the exercise could be carried out “now” as the previous circumstances cease to exist.The cancelation of the notifications has paved way for delimitation in the four north-eastern states.

12.       The job of delimitation is assigned to a high power body. Such a body is known as Delimitation Commission or a Boundary Commission.The Delimitation Commission in India is a high power body whose orders have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court.These orders come into force on a date to be specified by the President. The copies of its orders are laid before Lok Sabha and the state legislative assembly concerned, “but no modifications are permissible therein by them”, the EC website said.

PART II : DELIMITATION IN THE STATE OF MANIPUR 

13.       Manipur state being a multi ethnic state, it becomes very important to address the aspirations of all communities.  Manipur has 33 tribes with 53% population of Meiteis, 24% population of Naga and 16% population of Kuku-Zhou.  State of Manipur is divided in two parts, the Manipur Inner Lok Sabha seat which spans over in  32 Assembly Constituency seats and other being Manipur OuterLok Sabha seat covering
28 Assembly constituency seats, which makes it a total of 2 Lok Sabha seats and
60 Assembly constituency seats.Manipur has One Rajya Sabha seat and presently it also has one nominated Rajya Sabha member,Padma Vibhushan Smt Mary Kom.

14.       Likely outcome of Delimitation in Manipur :-

(a)       Outer Manipur seat no longer will be reserved for ST giving equal opportunity to Meitiescommunity to contest elections but again the problem of discrimination by the elected candidate of particular community against other community. The divergence between the plains and the hills is evident in terms of political aspirations and readings of political history makes it very clear how people see and interpret situations.

(b)       As Meitie populated areas are included in inner Manipur seat,so the contest always comes down to be between Nagasand Kukis,thus giving advantages to Nagasas there population is more than Kukis. These two tribes are at loggers head and the candidate elected will always support his community. One community will never have its representation in parliament.

(c)        If boundaries of both the parliamentary constituencies are redrawn with a balance of all communities/tribe, which appears unlikely,then chances are that due disproportionate spread of population the Metiesmayloosetheir hold in Inner Parliamentary seat and ST mayloose their reservation. Therefore it is expected thatthis proposal will be strongly contested by all communities who are still looking for their own share of pie.

(d)       Now the question arises what will happen? In any scenario there always will be a disbalance and one community will gain only viable solution seem is reduction in no of constituencies which is only possible after 2026. The commission should take consideration of population and area and give proposal. Manipur has seen insurgency for decades and each community/tribe has its own UG groups fighting for their own vested interests. After granting of Inner line permit to Manipur the problem of non-indigenous people settling is resolved now the matter which remains is balancing the constituencies keeping in mind each community/tribe. Unlike Assam where indigenous people have apprehension that boundaries will be altered for political gain of one party by including non-indigenous people in the constituency that is dominated by indigenous people.

(e)       The commission has a humongous task to do justice to the people of Manipur. In order to do so the commission should have balanced representation of all the communities/tribe. So there views are taken, Any decision favouring one community will certainly further divide the fragile social structure between Meties, Nagasand Kukis. The recent ethnic clash between TangkhulNaga’s andKukisin Chassadspeaks volume about fragile relationship that exists between the tribes.

PART III : IMPACT OF DELIMITATION IN MANIPUR

15.       Socio-Political Impact :-

(a)       The political scenario in Manipur is right now heavily un-balanced, this has led to politicians ruling by sectarian emotions. The ground situation in Manipur continues to be fragile with regular ethnic clashes further condescending into law and order problems throughout the state. Vote bank politics or caste based politics usually fans the problems by supporting a particular tribe or by other ways and means.

(b)       Manipur has two parliamentary seats in the Lok Sabha. While the Inner Manipur constituency is an unreserved seat covering the non-tribal people from the valley region, the Outer Manipur constituency is basically reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (STs)of hill region.

(c)        The government recognised, that various Naga and Kuki-Zomi-Chin tribal groups residing in the hill areas of Manipur were different in various waysfrom the Meitei people residing in the Manipur valley and therefore needed a separate parliamentary seat.However, the population strength of the hill tribals was found to be inadequate to get a parliamentary seat. So, that there is representation from these tribes as well.

(d)       The problem is that the Outer Manipur constituency is a reserved seat for an ST candidate. As a result, the non-tribal people of certain areas can vote but they cannot contest as candidates in their own parliamentary constituency, which needs to be add.

(e)       For the people in the eight non-tribal assembly constituencies, the issue is not just about the denial of their right to contest the Lok Sabha election. It is about the violation of their constitutional and citizenship rights.

(f)        Given the history of conflict between some Naga tribes and some Kuki tribes, the election often turns into a contest between a Naga candidate and a Kuki-Zomi candidate. To be fair, there is considerable diversity of voices within these tribal groups and there has rarely been a consensus on which candidates represent the groups as a whole. But, the trend is towards consolidation based on the tribe of candidates, and major parties accordingly pick their candidates with this trend in mind. This issue also needs due deliberation to obviate future complications.

(g)       The tribal people of Manipur need an effective voice of their own in Parliament. That is why one seat was allotted to them in the first place. Yet, by adding a block of valley voters to this reserved constituency, that very intent seemed to have been undermined.           

16.       Impact on Security and Law and Order Sitin Manipur. The outcome any which may lead to social unrest where in the outcome is not as perdesires of the people. Most likely people will take cue from latest CAA protest and startagitation which may lead to violence. Hence the security establishment have to be extravigilant and ensure anti social elements donot take advantage of the protests. Before theimplementation of the delimitation all necessary precaution by the govt should be take. If there is any reduction in the present allocation of seats, then possibility of disruption in law and order sit is quite high due to sudden stripping of vested constitutional authorityand its related privileges and benefits. The rep whose constituencies are abolished on merged will certainly instigate people and exploit the various fault lines which exist in our diverse society. North Easter states are the most diverse states as far as their population composition is concerned. Each tribe has its own affiliated political party as well as proscribed UG Group. The resentment which may arise due to delimitation may ultimately give reason to the side-lined political leaders to take tacit support of UG gps in asserting their influence on the society.

PART IV :ASSOCIATED PREDICAMENTS WITH DELIMITATION

17.       The contentious issues which needs to be add.

(a)       Before carrying out the delimitation exercise the constitutional provisions which stipulates the max and min number of representatives in states needs a fresh assessment keeping in mind the basic principle of ratio between the representatives to that of population, they represent. In today’s time only population should not remain the sole factor for consideration. The contribution of the state in overall GDP and GNP should also be factored.

(b)       The issue of representation and delimitation exercise cannot be carried out in isolation without add the old Tribal laws and reframing of rules of Sixth Schedule States, which needs reassessment because of the reach of governance across the length and breadth of the country.

(c)        The past political setup has got so deeply entrenched in to our society that if delimitation recommends reduction in the number of representatives then the intrinsic issue like that of career, livelihood, position and prestige will certainly lead to discontentment amongst various sections of society who have got benefited in the past due to sectarian driven politics based on appeasement.  

(d)       States that take little interest in population control could end up with a greater number of seats in Parliament. The southern states that promoted family planning face the possibility of having their seats reduced.

(e)       In 2008, Delimitation was done based on the 2001 census, but the total number of seats in the Assemblies and Parliament decided as per the 1971 Census were not changed.

18.       Comparison with other states.   If population is the principle deciding factor for representation then certainly a revision is required in Manipur due its population and geographical size. At the same time raison d'etre associated with the constitutional provisions needs a reassessment. A comparative study of five largest and five smallest states as per their 2011 census is given below to understand the representation in these states and a few exceptions to the existing constitutional provision which limits the max and min seats in respective state assemblies is appended below :-

  * LS - Lok Sabha, RS - Rajya Sabha, VS - Vidhan Sabha&  VP - VidhanParishad.

19.       The above comparison is amply clear in highlighting the disparity in the ratio between the Representatives and that of the population of smaller states, which have been basically carved out and reorganised on the ethnic lines.

PART V : SF AND DELIMITATION

• 20.       Going back in to the history and other aspects of Delimitation Commission of India and the procedures they follow to do the task of delimitation needs much more elaborate description and analysis. Broadly speaking it has very less impact on the present role of SFs, infact the SFs have actually given the opportunity that such exercise can now be undertaken after much turbulent past. In this paper we have just covered some aspects related to the aim of the subject given to be analysed. The subject of delimitation and its intricate procedures and policies should be left to the people who have grown and gained experience in the fd of election commission and public adm. As part of security forces the issues which directly affects us and some points to ponder have been covered for further study and analysis.

PART VI : RECOMMENDATIONS

21.       Factors to be kept in mind while deciding the future course of Delimitation. Due to population composition the revision of assembly seats in Manipur and also other NE states has to be done on the basis of ethnicity to offer a fair portion of representation. The following may have some merit :-

(a)       Reps from all communities should have representation, even if their population figures are not warranting so.

            (b)       Fair representation of Tribal, SC and ST.

            (c)        Reserving seats for various communities on rotational basis and even for women reps.

            (d)       Drawing out new political bdys as per latest census and ethnic composition.

            (e)       Add the issue of some constituencies which fall under Manipur Outer LS seat wherein the people can vote but cannot contest, which violates the basics of democracy.

(f)        Joint Study. A joint study need to be undertaken by all the stake holders of the state and the intelligentsia of NE region due to existence of certain common issues of tribal affiliations and historical perspectives.

(g)       Role of CSOs.The CSOs play a significant role in the day to day life of the people in the NE region.Many at times they have been the opinion makers and have decisively influenced the various levels of governance. To offset the negative fall outs of the delimitation a strategy of including the CSOs will prove very productive in conveying the correct msg of the delimitation and embolden the faith in the est rule of law. However going through the past, the reliability of CSOs remains a big questions.

(h)       Pxn Mgt. Pxnmgt prior to declaration of recommendations of delimitation commission will certainly yield positive results. Active use of all media platforms need to be exploited in projecting the comparative analysis of representatives to population ratio in bigger states and the expdr which can be saved by reducing the reps and using technology to reach out to the entire length & breadth of the nation to achieve better accountability and transparency. 

CONCLUSION

22.      It’s been seven decades since our constitution came into effect and still the basic fundamentals which are there in the Preamble have not been achieved to their fullest. The concept of “One Vote One Value” has a very deep meaning towards building a strong nation which still needs to be understood by the citizens of our country. The process of delimitation is an evolving process to add the very fundamentals of democratic set up which are based on proportionate representation of people at various level. The positive outcome of the delimitation exercise are reqd to be understood by all to est the rule of law and to prove thestr of our constitution. Analysing the present trend of protest and resentment in the society the outcome of this exercise has to be weighed with due caution and adequate preparations have to in place. We as a nation still have a long way to understand the true value of our constitution and to move along with it to preserve the true meaning of “Unity in Diversity”.