2 months ago
1
Have you ever wondered however and erstwhile the Tamil Nadu Assembly’s spot was fixed astatine 234 seats? This fig was arrived astatine by the Delimitation Commission, which undertook the post-1961 Census redistribution of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats.
Under Article 170 of the Constitution and Section 8(b) of the Delimitation Commission Act, 1962, the fig of seats successful a State Assembly indispensable beryllium an integral aggregate of the fig of Lok Sabha seats allotted to that State.
At the time, 14 States unneurotic accounted for 481 parliamentary seats. Madras (as Tamil Nadu was known then) had 41. In addition, Jammu and Kashmir had six seats, the Naga Hills-Tuensang Area 1 seat, the North East Frontier Tract 1 spot and the Union Territories 18 seats, taking the wide full to 507.
The Delimitation Commission — chaired by Justice J.L. Kapur, with C.P. Sinha and K.V.K. Sundaram arsenic members — noted that Article 81(1) fixed the maximum fig of straight elected Lok Sabha members astatine 500. This meant the maximum seats disposable for allocation among the 14 States was 493.
“The full colonisation of these States has accrued precise considerably during the past 10 years with the effect that the mean colonisation per parliamentary constituency has accrued from 732,654 successful 1951 to 889,257 successful 1961. Further, the summation is acold from being azygous for each the States,” the Commission recorded.
After reviewing demographic changes revealed by the 1961 Census, the Commission concluded retaining the existing 481 seats would disproportionately penalise immoderate larger States. Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Madras would each person mislaid 3 seats, portion Bihar would person mislaid one.
To mitigate this, the Commission accrued the full from 481 to 490. Even then, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Madras mislaid 2 seats each, portion Bihar avoided a loss. The Commission recorded that adjacent raising the fig to the law ceiling of 493 would not person altered the losses faced by those States.
Accordingly, by Order No. 1, Madras’ Lok Sabha spot was reduced from 41 to 39. The adjacent measurement was to find the size of the Madras Legislative Assembly.
At that time, the State followed a aggregate of 5 — meaning each Lok Sabha constituency corresponded to 5 Assembly segments. Applying that look mechanically would person resulted in: 39 × 5 = 195 Assembly seats.
However, the Madras Assembly past had 206 elected members. Retaining the existing aggregate would truthful person reduced the Assembly to 195 seats, a important contraction successful representation.
The Commission examined whether multiples required revision crossed States. It noted portion multiples broadly tended to emergence arsenic colonisation declined, the signifier was not uniformly followed. After owed consideration, it decided to clasp the existing aggregate successful each States, but Madras.
Explaining its reasoning successful its August 24, 1963 order, the Commission stated: “The Legislative Assembly of this State has astatine contiguous 206 elective seats. Considering that its quota successful the House of the People volition for the aboriginal beryllium reduced by 2 we deliberation it due to rise its aggregate from 5 to 6 and to delegate 234 seats to its Legislative Assembly.”
The revised look frankincense became: 39 × 6 = 234. Instead of shrinking, the Assembly expanded. This helped support effectual practice and legislative balance.
Other States saw nary specified alteration astatine the time. West Bengal retained its aggregate of seven, resulting successful 280 Assembly seats. Kerala, which past had 19 Lok Sabha seats, retained its aggregate of seven, resulting successful 133 seats. Assam retained nine, resulting successful 126 seats. Uttar Pradesh continued with a aggregate of five, producing 425 seats.
The determination was not arbitrary. It was a structural accommodation designed to sphere proportionality betwixt parliamentary and Assembly practice portion preventing a drastic contraction of the State legislature. Six decades later, the 234-seat operation remains unchanged. The bulk people of 118, confederation arithmetic, constituency size and electoral strategy successful Tamil Nadu proceed to run wrong the model created by that 1963 decision.
