The Congress has decided to call a meeting of top leaders of all Opposition parties on April 15 to strategise for the special session of Parliament starting the next day, during which an amendment to the women’s reservation law is expected to be passed.
After a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on Friday, the party’s communications head, Jairam Ramesh, explained that Opposition parties want Article 334A of the Constitution to be implemented, which reserves a third of all Lok Sabha and Assembly seats, including those set aside for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, for women.
He said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had questioned the government during the passage of Article 334A in 2023 as to why it was linked to delimitation. “...The actual issue concerns delimitation. But what exactly is the proposal? On what basis is this proposal being introduced? There is absolutely no information regarding that,” said Ramesh.
The CPM politburo said: “The proposal itself makes a fresh link of women’s reservation to another aim, namely an increase in the number of seats in Parliament and in Assemblies through a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 census. This raises many issues which cannot be pushed through and requires discussion and consultation with all states.”