Srinagar, April 8 -- In recent weeks, Indian politics have been roiled by controversy over something that hasn't happened yet: the government's redrawing of the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies, which is likely to happen within the next few years, after a new census is carried out. The problem, India's southern states argue, is that this will unfairly shift the balance of political power to northern states.

In India's Lok Sabha (the lower house of parliament), seats are generally apportioned according to population: more people usually means more seats. Since whoever controls a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha gets to form the government, a larger population amounts to a major advantage.

But unbridled population growth can c...