UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — The federal dilemma of delimitation

Q1. Article 82 of the Constitution provides that upon the completion of each census the allocation of Lok Sabha seats among the States shall be readjusted by such authority and in such manner as Parliament may by law determine. Which one of the following has, in practice, been that authority?

  • A. The Election Commission of India, exercising its powers of superintendence and control of elections under Article 324 of the Constitution
  • B. The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, which compiles and publishes the decennial census figures
  • C. A Delimitation Commission constituted by the Central Government under a law enacted by Parliament for that purpose
  • D. The Department of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Law and Justice, which pilots electoral law in Parliament

Q2. The requirement that the ratio between the number of Lok Sabha seats allotted to a State and the population of that State shall, so far as practicable, be the same for all States is laid down in which one of the following provisions?

  • A. Article 82
  • B. Article 81(2)(a)
  • C. Article 81(2)(b)
  • D. Article 170(2)

Q3. The extension of the freeze on the State-wise allocation of Lok Sabha seats up to the first census taken after the year 2026, justified as a measure to enable State Governments to pursue population stabilisation, was effected by which one of the following?

  • A. The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, which first imposed the freeze on State-wise seat totals
  • B. The Constitution (Eighty-fourth Amendment) Act, 2001, which amended the relevant explanations to Articles 81 and 170
  • C. The Constitution (Eighty-seventh Amendment) Act, 2003, which changed the census basis for readjusting constituencies
  • D. The Delimitation Act, 2002, under which the last Delimitation Commission was constituted by the Central Government

Q4. The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, as introduced in Lok Sabha, proposed to raise the ceiling on the number of Lok Sabha seats that may be filled by representatives of the States to how many?

  • A. 785
  • B. 815
  • C. 830
  • D. 850

Q5. Under the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, popularly called the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, the condition governing when the one-third reservation for women shall come into effect means that the reservation operates only—

  • A. from the first general election held after the Act received the assent of the President
  • B. from the date on which the Delimitation Commission for the next delimitation exercise is constituted by the Central Government
  • C. after a census taken subsequent to the commencement of the Act is published and delimitation is undertaken on the basis of that census
  • D. after the Act has been ratified by the Legislatures of not less than one-half of the States

Q6. Under the Delimitation Act, 2002, the Chairperson of the Delimitation Commission is appointed by which authority, and from among which category of persons?

  • A. By the Chief Justice of India, from among Judges who have retired from the Supreme Court
  • B. By the Central Government, from among persons who are or have been Judges of the Supreme Court
  • C. By the President on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner, from among sitting Judges of a High Court
  • D. By the Election Commission of India, from among persons who have held the office of Election Commissioner