INDIA bloc rejects delimitation push, backs women’s quota within existing Lok Sabha seats
New Delhi: Closing ranks ahead of a crucial Parliament session, the INDIA bloc, led by the Congress, has made it clear that while it supports women’s reservation in principle, it wants the quota to be implemented within the existing strength of 543 Lok Sabha seats and not through a delimitation exercise being proposed by the Modi government.
According to Kashmir Media Service, at a strategy meeting convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, leaders from across the Opposition spectrum agreed to fight any move that links the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act to the 2011 Census and subsequent redrawing of constituencies on its basis.
The Congress said the way the government was implementing it through delimitation was wrong and politically motivated and the Opposition parties would fight it in Parliament. Three Constitution amendment Bills, which need a two-thirds majority to get passed, are expected to be tabled during the extended Budget session starting on April 16.
Speaking to reporters after the INDIA bloc meeting, Kharge said, “We support the Women’s Reservation Bill but have objections to the government’s approach. Its action is politically motivated.” Later, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi posted on X that what the government was proposing now had nothing to do with the reservation for women and the proposed amendment was an effort to grab power using delimitation and gerrymandering.
