India, April 17 -- Parliament reconvened on Thursday to debate and (possibly) vote on three bills which will lead to the reallocation of Lok Sabha seats among states, delimitation of constituency boundaries, and reserving 33% of the new constituencies for women. The women's reservation part of the legislative agenda is, historically speaking, the least controversial.

While the bills still do not state this in writing, the government insists - and the Union home minister confirmed in the House - that the state-wise proportion of Lok Sabha seats will remain intact after the changes. This brings us to the third exercise: delimitation, which will involve redrawing constituency boundaries.

In a first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, translating ...