Is the delimitation question settled?

Delimitation is the process of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and State Assembly constituencies based on a recent Census to ensure that each seat has an almost equal number of voters. The last delimitation exercise took place in 1976. While the current boundaries were drawn on the basis of the 2001 Census, the number of Lok Sabha and State Assembly seats remained frozen on the basis of the 1971 Census. In 2002, the Constitution was amended to place a freeze on the exercise until the first Census conducted after the year 2026. Should delimitation be delayed any further? O.P. Rawat and Udaya Shankar Mishra discuss the question in a conversation moderated by Varghese K. George. Edited excerpts:

O.P. Rawat, a former IAS officer, served as the 22nd Chief Election Commissioner of India; Uday Shankar Mishra is professor at the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai