India’s Delimitation Dilemma

India hasn’t updated how political power is distributed across its states in five decades—and the consequences are mounting. At the heart of delimitation lies a fundamental tension: should representation follow population, or preserve a delicate federal balance? Successive governments chose to defer the question, freezing India’s electoral map even as demographic divides deepened. The Modi government’s recent push to overhaul the system brought these tensions into the open but ultimately failed to resolve them. Recently, Milan sat down with Shruti Rajagopalan of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University for a wide-ranging webinar on delimitation, representation, and the reshaping of Indian democracy. The two discussed how India reached the present impasse—and what happens next. Milan and Shruti unpack the constitutional rules governing delimitation, the scale of malapportionment in the Lok Sabha, and the politics behind the Modi government’s failed 2026 push to overhaul the system. Plus, they discuss scenarios for the future. On this week’s show, we present the audio and video from this recent conversation as a joint collaboration between Grand Tamasha and Shruti’s Ideas of India podcast. Episode notes: Shruti Rajagopalan, “ India’s delimitation battles are costing its poorest voters ,” Times of India , April 25, 2026. Shruti Rajagopalan, “ Delimitation: At heart of row, value of a vote, fiscal imbalance ,” Indian Express , April 23, 2026. M.R. Madhavan, “ Implications of increasing the size of the Lok Sabha ,” Hindu , April 16, 2024. Shruti Rajagopalan, “ Demography, Delimitation, and Democracy ,” Get Down and Shruti (Substack), July 3, 2023. Pranay Kotasthane, “ India Policy Watch: Delimitation as an Opportunity for a Grand Bargain ,” Anticipating the Unintended (Substack), June 18, 2023. Milan Vaishnav and Jamie Hintson, “ India’s Emerging Crisis of Representation ,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, March 14, 2019.

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India’s Delimitation Dilemma is an episode from Grand Tamasha by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

This episode is 01:12:56 long.

This episode was published on May 6, 2026.

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