Despite the constitutional amendment bill for implementing women's reservation having failed in the Lok Sabha, the path to implementing a 33 per cent reservation for women in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections remains open.
Several options are currently being considered to achieve this. According to top government sources, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains committed to 33 per cent women's reservation.
To implement this in the next Lok Sabha elections, discussions will be held with all political parties and if necessary, the government may even consider re-introducing the bill during the monsoon session, sources said.
Despite the failure of the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill, the government has not withdrawn the two accompanying bills that pertain to Union Territories and the delimitation process, and these remain pending in the Lok Sabha, sources said. The government can bring these bills up for a vote at any time, at its own convenience, they added.
Sources said the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 or the 106th Constitutional Amendment remains fully in force. This implies that the avenue for implementing the 33 per cent reservation for women in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections has not been closed.
The government had notified this law on Thursday night, precisely while the discussions regarding the 131st Constitutional Amendment were still underway. Under this foundational legislation, the implementation of women's reservation has been linked to the completion of the census and the subsequent delimitation process.
The amendment bill that failed to pass on Friday was intended to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816, based on the 2011 census data, in order to facilitate the implementation of women's reservation.
However, the failure of this specific bill has had no adverse effect on the reservation quota stipulated in the original law. In any case, the 2023 legislation will come into effect only after the census is completed and the Lok Sabha seats are subsequently redetermined through the delimitation process based on that data.
The census enumeration process is currently underway and is expected to be completed by 2027. If a Delimitation Commission is constituted and completes its work immediately thereafter, women's reservation could be implemented in the 2029 elections.
Experts believe that the government still has several avenues through which it can implement women's reservation. It could increase the number of seats through the process of delimitation, but doing so would need a two-thirds majority in parliament. Notably, opposition parties have been raising objections regarding the delimitation of seats based on population. This was, in fact, a major reason behind the opposition to the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill.
Second Alternative
A second alternative route involves altering only the boundaries of constituencies without increasing the total number of seats, which is capped at 550. Building political consensus on this approach could prove to be comparatively easier, sources said.
Still, the government has yet another option at its disposal. Under this approach, Article 334A could be amended to delink the reservation mandate from the condition of delimitation. Such a move would enable the implementation of reservation on the existing 543 seats. A freeze on delimitation is currently in effect until 2026. As this freeze is set to expire that year, the government will need to give fresh consideration to this matter, sources said.
Amid these options, the central government has for now decided to use a politically aggressive stance against the Opposition. Coinciding with the assembly election in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, the government has organised protests to corner the Opposition.
from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/oiwVWUR
