Now that the Delimitation Commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Kuldip Singh is going to notify its final report on the delimitation of both the Lok Sabha as well as Assembly constituencies of Karnataka in a few weeks, the question doing the rounds in political circles is what impact would the report have on the State's politico-social structure?
The final meeting of the Commission will be held on May 24 and immediately after that the final notification will be issued.
Political observers are near unanimous in their opinion that if one goes by the draft report published by the Commission (barring a few changes regarding the reservation and geographical contours of some constituencies, the final report is most likely to remain faithful to the draft), the delimitation process will alter the socio-political and economic fabric of Karnataka.
As per the Delimitation Act 2006, the Commission has to delimit the constituencies based on the 2001 census figures – without altering the total number of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies, 28 and 224 respectively.
As the urban population has grown by leaps and bounds over the last 25 years or so – the previous delimitation exercise in 1976 came into effect during the 1977-78 elections – the number of urban constituencies will go up at the cost of the rural hinterland. For example, in Bangalore urban district, the number of Assembly constituencies is likely to be increased from16 to 28.
"On account of the increased representation for urban areas, vast areas of the rural constituencies will go underpresented or unrepresented. Further, there will be greater concentration on urban areas and the rural areas will be neglected further. However, village-level development has remained a distant dream in our country. After the implementation of the report, these areas will be neglected further," former Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M C Nanaiah says.
According to the political analyst and Director of International Academy for Creative Teaching, Bangalore, Sandeep Shastry, in urban areas, the number of seats will go up by 20 to 40 per cent.
But in urban areas, the social composition of the population is quite different from the rural area. For example, in urban areas, the education level of voters is higher. "But in our Indian context, the more educated you are, the less likely you are going to vote," he says.
Senior Congress leader D B Chandre Gowda opines that no radical changes will take place in the state political scenario – the two dominant communities, Lingayats and Vokkaligas, will continue to enjoy preeminence in state politics.
While the number of seats reserved for SCs will go up from 33 to 36, for STs, the number will go up from 2 to 15.
It is in the north Karnataka region that a greater number of seats will be reserved for SCs/STs. Two districts – Raichur (four) and Bellary (five) – will account for a lion's share of ST seats.
Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu are the three districts where no seat will be reserved for either SCs or STs.
Mr Nanaiah is of the view that the increased representation for SCs/STs along with the freezing of seats for general categories will lead to social unrest.
Another significant development is that the delimitation process will lead to a greater concentration of Muslim voters in some urban pockets of the State.
"As the municipal areas have been left more or less intact by the Commission, there is not much division of Muslim votes.
“As per the 2001 account, Muslims account for 13 per cent of the State's population.
“It is estimated that Muslim voters can play a crucial role in about 25 to 30 per cent of Assembly seats", Mr Arshad Ali, MLC says. 
According to him, the delimitation process will have a direct bearing on 17 districts in the State. "Not only will the geographical boundaries of the Lok Sabha and Assembly segments be altered in these districts, but there also will be major changes in the number of Assembly segments in each of these districts," Mr Arshad Ali opines.
The geographical contours of 95 per cent of the State's constituencies will undergo changes. Some of the major constituencies which will remain unchanged are the Jewargi Assembly seat represented by the Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister N Dharam Singh and the K R Pet seat represented by Assembly Speaker Krishna.
About 85 sitting MLAs, including eight sitting ministers, will have to either look for other constituencies or take political sanyas as their constituencies will either be abolished through a merger with other assembly segments or reserved for SCs/STs or dereserved for the general category.