In his reply to the debate on the Women's Reservation Bill and the Delimitation Bill in the Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah slammed the opposition parties over their stance on the three bills brought by the government, alleging that the INDIA bloc members are opposing women's reservation with 'ifs and buts'.
"No one has objected to the women's reservation. But, if we see closely, all members of the INDI alliance have opposed it by using 'ifs and buts'," he said. He also said the Opposition is not against the implementation of quota law but against women's reservation.
Amit Shah said the government had brought three bills so that the Women's Reservation Act is implemented from the 2029 Lok Sabha polls and the principle of one person, one vote, one value is followed.
"The purpose of these three bills is...first, the constitutional amendment aimed at empowering women should be implemented in a time-bound manner so that the 2029 elections can be held with women's reservation; second, one person -- one vote -- one value... This principle, which is at the core of our Constitution and was determined by the Constituent Assembly, should be implemented in the spirit of that Constitution," he said.
The women's reservation failed to secure a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha voting on Friday.
While 298 members voted in favour of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Amendment Bill, 230 members voted against it. No members abstained from voting.
The rules require 360 MPs to support the bills, including the Constitution amendment bill, which comes to two-thirds of those present and voting.
The home minister said the Constitution provides for periodic delimitation and that includes provisions for increasing the SC and ST seats in proportion to their growing population.
"In a way, those opposing delimitation are also opposing the increase in SC and ST seats," he said in a strong rebuttal to opposition's charges of a hidden agenda behind the government's proposal of delimitation of constituencies.
Shah also claimed that the Congress deprived people of delimitation when it was in power, and it is still doing the same.
The home minister also said that there are 127 seats where there are more than 20 lakh voters and it goes against the spirit of the principle of 'one person, one vote and one value'.
"At some places, 45 lakh voters have one representative, and at some places, six lakh voters have one representative.
As a result, the value of each vote is not equal across constituencies," he said.
Shah also dismissed the claim that the Constitution amendment bill brought for providing women reservation in legislatures was aimed at delaying caste enumeration during census.
"A meeting of the Union Cabinet in 2025 decided to carry out caste enumeration along with the census exercise and the process has already started," he said.
The home minister also promised to bring an official amendment mentioning 50 per cent increase in Lok Sabha seats across states if the opposition parties support the women's reservation bill.
"The women's reservation amendment bill will fall flat if the opposition does not vote in its favour. But women of the country are watching who the obstacle is," he said.
The Home Minister had yesterday sought to allay apprehensions of opposition members about the Southern states losing their influence as a result of an increase in seats in the Lok Sabha to implement the women's reservation Act and said while there will be about 50 per cent increase in their seats, the relative proportion in total seats will also move up.
"If we listen to the entire narrative created for the South, then out of the 543 seats created by you, 129 MPs currently sit in this House, which is approximately 23.76%. In the new House, 195 MPs will be sitting here, and their power will be 23.97%," he added.
Shah said Karnataka has 28 seats, and 5.15 per cent of the 543 seats in the House and after the passage of the bill, the number of Karnataka MPs will increase from 28 to 42, and the percentage in the Lok Sabha will increase to 5.44.
"Karnataka will not suffer any loss at all. Andhra Pradesh has 25 seats, which is 4.60 per cent. After the passage of the bill, the number of MPs will increase from 25 to 38. which will be 4.65 per cent," he said.
Shah said Telangana has 17 seats, which is 3.13 per cent and after the passage of the bill, the number of MPs will increase from 17 to 26, which will be 3.18 per cent.
"Tamil Nadu has 49 seats, which is 7.18 per cent. After the passage of the bill, the number of MPs will be 59, and their percentage in the new House of 816 will be 7.23 per cent. Tamil Nadu will also suffer no loss. Keralam has 20 seats, which is 3.68 per cent. After the passage of the bill, the number of MPs will be 30, and their percentage in the new House will be 3.67 per cent," he added.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)