NEW DELHI, March 10 -- In 1812, Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts signed a law redrawing state senate districts to favour his party. One district coiled so grotesquely around opposition strongholds that a critic likened it to a salamander. Thus, "gerrymandering" was born. Over two centuries later, the art of shaping electoral boundaries remains controversial.

Delimitation, the process of demarcating political constituencies, is not just a technical exercise. It is a mirror reflecting struggles to balance representation, power, and identity. Nowhere is this tension more palpable than in India, where after years of trying to avoid properly defining or delimitating political constituencies, it has become a Gordian knot entangled in a...