15 MPs nominated to the Delimitation Commission by the Lok Sabha Speaker 

15 MPs nominated to the Delimitation Commission by the Lok Sabha Speaker 

Part of: GS-Prelims and GS-II – Statutory Bodies; Indian Constitution

In News:

• Lok Sabha Speaker recently nominated 15 MPs from Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh to assist the Delimitation Commission in redrawing the Lok Sabha and the Assembly constituencies of the northeastern States and the Union Territory of J&K.

Important value additions 

The Delimitation Commission 

• It is appointed by the President of India.
• It works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India
• It means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country to represent changes in population. 
• The Delimitation Commission Act was enacted in 1952.
• It is usually composed of the retired Supreme Court judge, Chief Election Commissioner and Respective State Election Commissioners.
• Objectives:
  • To provide equal representation to equal segments of a population.
  • Fair division of geographical areas so that one political party doesn’t have an advantage over others in an election.
• Functions:
  • It determines the number and boundaries of constituencies to make the population of all constituencies nearly equal.
  • It also identifies the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. 
• Its orders have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court.
• The 84th Amendment Act of 2001 extended the ban on readjustment for another 25 years (2026). Earlier it was till year 2000 only. 
• The 87th Amendment Act of 2003 provided for the delimitation of constituencies on the basis of the 2001 census and not 1991 census.