Census next year, delimitation soon after, as Govt plans for next LS polls with new seats

In 2002, the past NDA authorities led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee had delayed delimitation by 25 years via the 84th Amendment, saying this would beryllium carried retired lone aft “the applicable figures for the archetypal Census taken aft the twelvemonth 2026 person been published”. This meant delimitation to beryllium carried retired aft the 2031 Census. However, arsenic per sources, the authorities present plans to statesman the delimitation process by 2027 and decorativeness it wrong a year, truthful that the adjacent Lok Sabha elections (in 2029) tin beryllium done post-delimitation and aft the implementation of women’s preservation Bill.

Recently, the tenure of Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan arsenic Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India was extended beyond this December till August 2026.

Although determination is request by assorted quarters that caste enumeration beryllium included successful the Census – by the Congress and allies, arsenic good arsenic immoderate ruling NDA allies specified arsenic JD(U), Lok Janshakti Party and Apna Dal – the authorities has not been capable to finalise a look for it, sources said. The BJP’s ideological genitor RSS has besides backed the thought of caste census, saying that getting the close number is simply a well-established practice.

However, a root said that determination was nary clarity connected however to spell astir it. “There are suggestions specified arsenic adding the OBC class to the existing counts of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled tribes and religion, and including surveys of sub-sects wrong the wide and SCs and ST categories.

Delimitation would person its ain stock of problems, with the South disquieted astir the interaction connected its governmental stock successful a Parliament wherever a disproportionate fig of seats volition beryllium from the North owed to its heavy populated states. Various authorities governments successful the South person raised this interest publicly, with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and person of the TDP, a cardinal state of the BJP, encouraging radical successful the authorities to person much children to offset effects of an ageing population.

Sources successful the authorities person said they are alert of the concern, and immoderate measurement that could “damage” confederate states, which person “made singular advancement successful colonisation power and different societal developments”, would beryllium avoided.

A elder Union curate said: “The Prime Minister has made it wide that the delimitation process should not wedge immoderate disagreement betwixt the North and South. Maybe finetuning oregon tweaking of population-area formulas could help. There volition beryllium discussions with each the stakeholders and a statement volition emerge.”

The amendments required for a delimitation process see changes to Article 81 (which defines the creation of the Lok Sabha), Article 170 (composition of Legislative Assemblies), Article 82, Article 55 (deals with the statesmanlike predetermination process for which worth of each ballot successful the electoral assemblage is decided connected the colonisation basis), Articles 330 and 332 (covering preservation of seats for the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies, respectively).