New Delhi, March 22 -- Amid the ongoing row over the issue of delimitation, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Saturday asserted that the exercise cannot be undertaken without conducting a fresh census.

He pointed out that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had amended the Constitution in 2002, postponing delimitation until the first census after 2026 is done.

Speaking to ANI, Jairam Ramesh said, "Delimitation cannot be done without a fresh census. Atal Bihari Bajpai amended the Constitution to say that the delimitation will be postponed till we complete the first census after 2026, which means 2031. That was his constitutional amendment in 2002. So, delimitation was kept frozen at 1971 population levels."

Ramesh further raised conce...