I haven’t managed to get my head around the consequences of India’s electoral “delimitation” process, which saw most of the country’s electorate boundaries redrawn for the first time in 33 years, but this article from the BBC gives a good overview of the consequences:
In a deeply fractured society divided along caste, religious, tribal and identity lines, redrawing the constituencies has, in the words of political scientist Yogendra Yadav, “wiped out their histories” and altered the political representation of social groups.
“It is a political earthquake of sorts. The newly drawn constituencies are starting from scratch,” he says.
This, in turn, is posing fresh challenges to political party managers in choosing candidates to contest the altered constituencies. The candidates themselves are concerned about the changing character of the constituencies.
[…]
Analysts suggest that with the increase of urban constituencies, the Hindu nationalist BJP is likely to have an edge because the party has done traditionally well in urban areas.
But, as Yogendra Yadav says, delimitation will not radically influence the overall result.
“The strengths and weaknesses of the candidates in the newly redrawn constituencies cancel each other out, and no party gains drastically overall,” he says.
