What the ‘science’ of delimitation and fertility struggles to capture

On April 16, the Indian government introduced three Bills in the Lok Sabha: the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, the Delimitation Bill, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill. The proposed laws would expand the size of the Lok Sabha from 543 seats to 850 seats, and empower the government to conduct a new delimitation exercise based on the 2011 population census. The Constitutional Amendment Bill failed to get the two-thirds majority it needed, and the government promptly withdrew the other two Bills as well.

Thus, the delimitation debate has continued, and if anything has become more fraught by raising the prospect of the government pursuing more unorthodox or even dubious means to achieve the goal of expanding Parliament.