National

Panel for redrawing constituencies

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI MAY 5. The Delimitation Bill introduced by the Centre in the Lok Sabha on Friday seeks to establish a Delimitation Commission to redraw the boundaries of all constituencies in the country and roughly equalise the voting population in each constituency.

Under the Bill, both the Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies will be so redrawn without affecting the total number of seats allocated to the States.

The Commission will consist of three members, including the chairperson who shall be a judge or a former judge of the Supreme Court. The other two shall be the Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commissioner nominated by him and the State Election Commissioner of the concerned State, both of whom shall be ex-officio members. The Commission shall endeavour to complete its work within two years so that the next general elections to the Lok Sabha are conducted under the new Delimitation Order.

The Commission shall associate with itself for the purpose of assisting it in its duties in each State, 10 persons, five of whom shall be members of the Lok Sabha representing the State and five from the Assembly.

The allocation of seats in the Lok Sabha to the States and Assemblies shall remain unaltered. The Commission shall distribute the seats in the Lok Sabha allocated to each State and the seats assigned to the Assembly of each State to single-member territorial constituencies and delimit them on the basis of census figures of 1991.

The constituencies in which seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes shall be distributed in different parts of the State and located as far as practicable, in those areas where the proportion of their population to the total is comparatively large; constituencies in which seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes, shall as far as practicable be located in areas where the proportion of their population to the total is the largest.

The Commission will have the power to call upon the Registrar General and the Census Commissioner, the Surveyor General of India, or any other officer of the Central or State Government or any other person whose knowledge is considered necessary by the Commission for discharge of its function.

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