“Gerrymandering danger in the exercise of delimitation needs well- thought out controls at multiple levels.” Elucidate.

By Srirangam Sriram, Sriram's IAS, New Delhi.

Gerrymandering is a corrupt practice in drawing the boundaries of a territorial constituency for legislative elections. It seeks to establish an unfair political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating boundaries, which is most commonly used in first-past-the-post electoral systems. It was first implemented by Elbridge Gerry, who redrew the districts (constituencies) of Massachusetts state in the early 1800s to maximise his chances of reelection. The shape of the district that Gerry drew was compared by critics it to a mythical salamander, which was named “Gerrymander”.

The unfair consequences re in the form of communalising a constituency, disempowering some social groups, reserving and de-reserving a constituency etc. In order to prevent such erosion of rule of law and social and political justice, the following provisions are available

• Constitution deals with the issue and mandates that parliament should set up a delimitation commission
• It is headed by a former supreme court judge
• It has a member of the Election Commission of India and also the state election commissioner as exofficio members
• President may reject the report of the Commision partly or wholly
• Discussion in parliament
• Finally, the Supreme Court also can act as a check.

Published date : 18 Nov 2020 01:40PM