Opposition leaders in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday questioned the haste with which the government is pushing the Women's Reservation (Amendment) Bill, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought support for the legislation during the upcoming special three-day session of Parliament.
The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023 seeks to reserve a third of all seats in the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies for women. The legislation was supposed to be implemented after delimitation to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha to enforce the quota. The government has not defined what the latest amendment is, but it is speculated that the reservation would be implemented before delimitation by increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha by 50 per cent.
Rajya Sabha Opposition leader and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said: "You (Modi) mention in your letter that your government has engaged in dialogue with political parties regarding this. However, I am pained to point out that this goes against the truth since all the Opposition parties have been urging the government to call an all-party meeting after the current round of elections is over on April 29 to discuss the Constitution amendments being contemplated. The calling of a special sitting during the ongoing state elections only reinforces our belief that your government is hurrying the implementation of the bill to gain political mileage rather than truly empower women."
AAP Rajya Sabha leader Sanjay Singh told reporters in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur that the party supported the bill, but increasing seats without a census was "a conspiracy to reduce the number of women in the House”.
CPM Rajya Sabha leader John Brittas posted on X: “... The hurried special sitting and bundled amendments on massive seat expansion raise serious questions. Two key states — Bengal and Tamil Nadu — are in the midst of crucial Assembly elections. We had formally requested the government to defer until these conclude. The proposal to increase Lok Sabha seats by 50 per cent (from 543 to 816) on a pro-rata basis will add over 200 seats to northern states but only around 65 to southern ones. In politics, absolute numbers matter rather than ratio or percentage.”
The Prime Minister is scheduled to address a national conference of eminent women on Monday to drum up public support for the amendments.
Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju wrote back to Kharge, saying meetings and phone calls had been held with all major parties in Parliament on the issue. "If we don't act now, it is possible that women's reservation may not be implemented in time for the 2029 elections," he said.