Why delimitation in Assam and Kashmir led to charges of gerrymandering
· Scroll
The Narendra Modi government has proposed to increase the number of seats in Lok Sabha from 543 to 850, with one-third of the seats being reserved for women.
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Tied to these two significant changes is a third – the formation of a Delimitation Commission, to carve out the new parliamentary seats.
Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has alleged that this allows the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government to “gerrymander” all Lok Sabha seats to its advantage for the 2029 elections.
Gerrymandering refers to redrawing the boundaries of constituencies to give an advantage to a particular political party.
Gandhi cited the example of two recent delimitation exercises that were carried out in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir, which, he alleged, were “hijacked” to favour the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Both the delimitation exercises, carried out in 2020 in Jammu and Kashmir, and in 2023 in Assam, were sharply contentious. Critics said they enabled a significant reduction in Muslim representation and favoured communities that were more likely to vote for the BJP. This was done by redrawing constituencies, sometimes with complete disregard for geographical boundaries and features.
The Assam model
Analysts, political observers and Muslim lawmakers described the delimitation in Assam in 2023, carried out by the Election Commission, as a “communal” exercise...