Two and a half years ago, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Modi government convened a special session to inaugurate the new parliament building. The outcome was the 106th Amendment to the Constitution of India which promised 33% reservation for women but only after the completion of census and delimitation. The demand for immediate implementation of the new reservation system from the 2024 election itself went unheard.
Now just a week ahead of the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal Assembly elections, with Members of Parliament from these two opposition-ruled states busy with the election campaign, the government has convened yet another special session (16-18 April) of Parliament to amend the Constitution yet again to pass the same women's reservation legislation delinking it from the Census.
Three bills to be taken up in the forthcoming Special Session of Parliament are now out in the public domain. The One Hundred and Thirty First Amendment Bill providing for one-third women's reservation in Parliament and Assemblies has room for 815 members of parliament from various states of India and 35 from various union territories. At the moment India has 19 MPs from the union territories (NCT - 7, J&K - 5, Ladakh - 1, Chandigarh - 1, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu - 2, Puducherry - 1, Lakshadweep - 1, Andaman and Nicobar Islands - 1). The proposed new number of MPs from UTs is nearly double the current strength. Is this a loaded hint about new UTs to be created by dividing Bihar and West Bengal?
The women's reservation idea had nothing to do with the census. A demography-based reservation should reserve 48-50% seats for women and not just the current formula of one-third share. Delimitation, on the other hand, should factor in the latest census data as an important component in a holistic framework that will uphold and not undermine India's federal character as a union of states. But the government clearly wants to weaponise women's reservation to push through a contentious delimitation proposal on the basis of the 2011 census in 2026!
There is no need to rush through a contentious delimitation formula simply for the sake of implementation of 33% reservation for women. Delimitation must be done on the basis of adequate consultation with all stakeholders and consideration of all relevant points to strengthen India's unity as a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic. Women's reservation can and must be implemented immediately on the basis of the existing strength of Parliament and Assemblies. Any future expansion of the size of Parliament or Assemblies will be automatically covered according to the proportionate reservation formula for women as for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes.
Women's Reservation Now!
Delink it from Delimitation!
Fair Delimitation Following New Census!
Issued by CPIML Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya
