Democratic Setup of India and the History of Delimitation orders of Parliamentary Constituencies

Abstract

India is the largest democracy of the world. India has a bicameral parliament operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system, which consists of the upper house called the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the lower house called the Lok Sabha (House of People). The parliamentary constituencies in India have been delimited four times by the Independent Delimitation Commission prior to the general elections held in 2009. The first delimitation was done in 1956 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1952. The other three delimitations were done in the year 1966, 1974 and 2008 under orders of the Delimitation Commission Acts, 1962, 1973 and 2002 respectively. This paper makes an attempt to make an inquiry into the Indian democratic setup along with arrangements of parliamentary constituencies after every delimitation order.