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BJP and Congress have entered a new political slugfest over the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam or Women's Reservation Bill 2023, which stipulates reservation of 33 per cent seats in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies for women. On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the said changes fulfil a promise that all parties have made.

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has, however, written that the real issue is not the women's reservation Bill but its being coupled with the delimitation exercise.

What does bills propose?

PM Modi-led Union Cabinet has approved the introduction of two bills during the special budget session, called on April 16 to 18.

These two bills comprise a Constitutional Amendment Bill to modify the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (the Women's Reservation Law) and an Ordinary Bill to amend the Delimitation Act.

ALSO READ: Women's Reservation Bill To Come Up In Special Parliament Session Next Week; What Law Proposes And Can It Pass?

The first one is being introduced to remove an earlier 2023 amendment mandating implementation using the next census data. This would require a two-thirds majority in both the Houses of Parliament, which the ruling NDA lacks and hence needs support from the Opposition.

The other bill proposes to redraw the Lok Sabha constituency boundaries before the 2029 general elections using 2011 Census data instead of waiting for the upcoming one, which has begun this month.

The government is looking to increase the seats in the Lok Sabha by 50 per cent, or by 273 to 816, using the Delimitation Bill. With the CAB regarding Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, the Centre is planning to reserve all these 273 seats for women.

Why Centre, Opposition are belligerent?

PM Modi on Monday said that when the women's reservation bill was passed in 2023, all opposition parties had called for its implementation before 2029.

"Nobody wanted the bill to be passed and not implemented, especially our Opposition leaders. They were very vocal in stressing that it should be implemented in 2029. Keeping that timeline in mind, the government decided to take what the Opposition had said seriously," he said.

He urges all parties to pass the amendments unanimously. However, Sonia, in a write-up for The Hindu, suggested that the women's reservation is already settled and the real issue in delimitation accompanying it.

ALSO READ: 'Hurrying Women's Reservation Bill For Political Mileage': Kharge Writes To PM Modi, Condemns Centre For Rushing Law

"Reservation for women is not the issue here. That has already been settled. The real issue is delimitation, which, based on the information unofficially available, is extremely dangerous and an assault on the Constitution itself," she wrote in the article.

Citing historical trends, she argued for delimitation after the new Census. While the BJP and PM Modi himself have claimed that a 50 per cent increase will not disturb the proportional share of states, Sonia raised apprehensions that without the latest population data, smaller states that have been pioneers in family planning will be at a disadvantage.

Moreover, she argued that even a proportionate increase in seats could harm these states, which are mostly in the South.

In a fierce attack on the prime minister, Sonia also asked why it took over 30 months to make a U-turn, suggesting it be done considering the assembly elections in four states and a union territory.


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