NEW DELHI: The long-pending issue of women’s reservation in legislatures continues to hang fire, with the Centre remaining non-committal on the Opposition’s demand for convening an all-party meeting over the issue.
While the Opposition and the government had exchanged a series of letters in the matter, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the government wants to implement Women's reservation for the 2029 elections.
Speaking at a media event, the Home Minister said the government is trying to hold discussions almost every day with the Opposition to set up a delimitation commission.
The stalemate comes even as the government recently proposed an early delimitation exercise to fast-track the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act, sparking sharp exchanges with the Opposition.
Speculation is rife that the government may introduce amendments to the 2023 law in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament, which mandates 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
Proposed changes reportedly include linking the Act’s implementation based on the 2011 Census for a quicker rollout and potentially increasing the number of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats by 50 per cent on a proportional basis.
However, experts have described delimitation as an ‘arduous exercise', indicating that it would involve complex administrative work and constitutional changes.
Echoing the view of the government, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday called on the Opposition leaders to actively participate in discussions and engage constructively with the proposed legal changes.
It was in response to a second letter written by Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge asking why the government was in a 'great hurry' to amend the women’s quota law.
On Tuesday, several Opposition parties wrote to the government, asking for an all-party meeting to be convened to discuss the modalities of the implementation of the women’s reservation law.
In the letter, the Opposition leaders had said the meeting should be held after the completion of the current round of assembly elections in April.
The Opposition has questioned the government’s claims of prior consultations and pointed to the absence of a clear roadmap for implementation.