Delimitation is the redrawing of constituency boundaries, and the reallocation of seats between states, so that representation keeps pace with population. India has not done it fully since the 1970s, and that freeze is now expiring.
What a Delimitation Commission does
Article 82 provides that Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after each census, after which the Central Government constitutes a Delimitation Commission. It redraws boundaries so constituencies hold broadly comparable populations, and fixes which seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Its orders have the force of law and cannot be questioned in court, which is unusual and deliberate: boundary decisions are made final so that elections are not paralysed by litigation.
The freeze
The number of Lok Sabha seats allocated to each state has been frozen on 1971 census figures. The Constitution (Eighty-fourth Amendment) Act, 2001 and the Constitution (Eighty-seventh Amendment) Act, 2003 extended that freeze until the first census taken after 2026.
Boundaries within states were redrawn on 2001 census figures under the Delimitation Act, 2002, which is where the present constituencies come from. What did not change was how many seats each state gets.
Why it was frozen
Because seats follow population, and population growth has been uneven. States that reduced their birth rates fastest would have lost seats to states that did not, which would have meant penalising them for succeeding at national policy.
Freezing the allocation removed that penalty. It also means that after five decades, a seat in one state now represents a very different number of people from a seat in another.
Why it is live now
The freeze runs out with the first census after 2026. In April 2026 the government introduced a constitutional amendment and a Delimitation Bill to allow the next delimitation on 2011 census figures, but the amendment was defeated in the Lok Sabha on 17 April and the government did not proceed with the Delimitation Bill, so no law for the next delimitation has yet been passed.
The next delimitation also decides when reservation for women begins in the Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies, because that reservation takes effect only after the first delimitation that follows the census.
Even once a Commission is constituted, the process is slow. Under Section 9 of the Delimitation Act, 2002, it must publish its draft proposals, consider objections and suggestions, and hold public sittings in each state before making final orders. The last Commission was set up in July 2002, and its orders took effect in most states only in 2008.
Why it matters to you
Delimitation can change which constituency you are in, what it is called, who your sitting representative is, and whether the seat is reserved, without you moving house.
When it happens, re-check your entry rather than assuming last time’s details carry over.
Delimitation is not gerrymandering
The two get conflated. Gerrymandering is drawing boundaries to favour a party. Delimitation in India is carried out by an independent Commission. Under Section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002, it is chaired by a serving or retired Supreme Court judge, with the Chief Election Commissioner, or an Election Commissioner the Chief Election Commissioner nominates, and the State Election Commissioner of the state concerned as members. It works to published population criteria and holds public sittings in each state.
Associate members drawn from the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly sit with it, but they have no vote. The design is deliberate: the people with the strongest interest in the outcome can be heard and cannot decide.
Correction, 24 September 2026: This article previously said legislation for the next delimitation had been brought before Parliament. The constitutional amendment introduced in April 2026 was defeated on 17 April and the Delimitation Bill was not proceeded with. It also said the Commission must hold hearings in every constituency and described its membership inaccurately: under the Delimitation Act, 2002 it holds public sittings in each state, its chair may be a serving or retired Supreme Court judge, an Election Commissioner may sit in place of the Chief Election Commissioner, and its associate members come from the Lok Sabha.
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