Delimitation, census, democracy: Banojyotsna Lahiri sounds the alarm on Kunal Kamra's ‘Nope’ podcast
New Delhi: In the 24th episode of the podcast series "Nope w/ Kunal Kamra," democratic rights activist and Delhi-based researcher Banojyotsna Lahiri raised serious concerns over the delayed census, the growing push for "One Nation, One Election."
Hosted by comedian and political commentator Kunal Kamra, the episode titled "The End Game of Elections?" delved into the implications of electoral delimitation, especially its impact on the federal balance between northern and southern India.
At the heart of the discussion was the question of why India’s census, due in 2021, has still not been conducted. “Census has not been done yet, that too is a crime,” Lahiri remarked at the beginning. She dismissed the government’s earlier excuse of the COVID-19 pandemic, pointing out that large public events like the IPL and Cricket World Cup were held between 2021 and 2025. Drawing a historical comparison, she noted that even during World War II, the British government managed to conduct the census in 1942.
Lahiri highlighted that the census is the constitutional basis for the delimitation process, as laid out in Articles 82 and 170. After every ten-year census, a delimitation commission is meant to be formed to redraw the boundaries and determine the number of parliamentary seats, including those reserved for SCs and STs. However, the last such exercise was carried out based on the 1971 census. “After the Emergency, in 1976, it was decided that this delimitation will not be done until 2001,” she said, adding that the freeze was later extended to 2026 as part of a compromise between states with high population growth and those with better development indicators.
The crux of her argument lay in how the new round of delimitation, expected after the 2026 census, would disproportionately benefit northern Indian states with higher populations, while punishing the southern states that have effectively implemented population control and progressive policies. Lahiri warned, “This is a kind of punishment to the South for doing better. The states that did good work, they will now be punished by reducing their political power.”
Kamra interjected to ask whether this issue was being seen through a regional lens. Lahiri confirmed that the north-south divide was indeed an underlying tension in the discourse. “In the name of democracy, you are taking away seats from South India,” she said. The logic is that states that grew faster demographically will receive more parliamentary representation, skewing national politics further in favour of the Hindi heartland.
The conversation also touched on the broader narrative around caste and representation. Lahiri questioned the societal misconception that “general” categories imply “upper caste.” “General does not mean upper caste. General means for everyone,” she asserted. She pointed out that in several constituencies marked as ‘general’, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes constitute the majority, yet they are often denied representation.
On the topic of “One Nation, One Election,” Lahiri linked it to a broader pattern of democratic erosion. She described these policies as attempts to “destroy the essence of democracy,” adding that “we will have to fight for that too, and we will fight.”
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
