Delimitation debate: A conflict between the principle of democracy and one of federalism

In the ongoing debate on delimitation, a conflict between a principle of democracy and one of federalism has become apparent. ‘One person, one vote, one value’ is a principle of India’s electoral system. What this should mean in practice, at a minimum, is that all Lok Sabha constituencies should have roughly the same number of electors.

The Indian republic is constituted as a “union of States”. States are the constituent units, and they have their individual identity and power. The delimitation debate, therefore, has to take into account the relative weights of individual electors and individual States. It has to be about federal democracy.