Pushing the Limits

Manipur’s hill population seeks better representation through the delimitation exercise

- RICHARD KAMEI

On 6 March, the Indian government reconstituted the Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir, and for four northeastern states: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. Delimitation is the process through which boundaries are redrawn for state assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies, in order to reflect changes in population. This is done on the basis of the preceding census. While the last delimitation exercise was conducted across India between 2002 and 2008, it was held back for these states. Various political actors, especially from Assam, had strongly objected to the use of the 2001 census on the grounds that the National Register of Citizens had not yet been updated.

Two shifts under the Modi administration—the revocation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, and the updation of the NRC in Assam—have dramatically altered this context. A government order issued by the law ministry stated that the circumstances leading to the deferring of the delimitation exercise in Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland “have ceased to exist and that the delimitation of the constituencies as envisaged under the Delimitation Act, 2002 could be carried out now.”