NEW DELHI: The government is learnt to be exploring a possibility to implement the Women’s Reservation Act even before the completion of the post-Census delimitation exercise for Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies.
The Women’s Reservation Bill, known as the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniya), was passed in a special session in September 2023. According to the law, 33% women’s reservation will be implemented only after the 2027 Census and subsequent delimitation exercise.
Sources said that while no instructions have been issued yet to prepare a formal proposal for the Union Cabinet, plans are underway to explore the possibility of amending the law. If the proposal to implement the law before the delimitation exercise materialises, another amendment to the Constitution will be required.
According to sources, the government has sent unofficial feelers to certain opposition leaders about the possibility of a bill for the implementation of the women’s quota without waiting for delimitation.
The sources underlined that a delimitation or boundary commission is a “neutral” body mandated to redraw constituencies, and its decisions cannot be challenged even in the Supreme Court. They said a neutral body will instil faith in the delimitation exercise. “At best, it can carry out delimitation of one or a few states, as it carried out delimitation in Assam recently,” said an official.
In an earlier interview with this newspaper, former Chief Statistician Pronab Sen said the government could delink the women’s reservation provision from the delimitation requirement by amending the law. “Why should the women’s quota be held hostage to delimitation? The reservation for women will remain stuck because it has been made dependent on delimitation and the Census,” Sen said.
Sen argued that tying the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill to delimitation could create political complications. “If delimitation is carried out purely on the basis of population, the government could face opposition from southern states as well as from states like Maharashtra and Gujarat. These states may see a reduction in their representation because they have performed relatively well in controlling population growth,” he said.