Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at CWC meet on Friday said the party will move forward unitedly with opposition parties on women reservation issue. “Proposed amendments can have serious impact on our electoral system; need to formulate collective strategy,” Kharge said. He said the Congress sought immediate implementation of women reservation when bill was passed in 2023 but the government wanted it after delimitation, Census.
“We don't need validation from anyone on issues like welfare of women, marginalised sections,” Kharge said after the CWC meet.
Congress CWC conducted a meeting on Friday to discuss the development regarding the Women's Reservation Bill. Several senior leaders such as Karnataka CM Siddharamaia, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Revanth Reddy, Sukhvinder Singh Sukho attended the meeting. Others who were present in the meeting include Jeetender Singh, Charanjit Singh Channi, Salman Khurshid, Deepadas Munsi, Anand Sharma, Sariq Anwar, Sachin Pilot, Ambika Soni, Nasir Hussain and Bhupesh Baghel.
Congress holds meet ahead of special session of Parliament
The Congress party convenes the meeting on Women's Reservation Bill ahead of a three-day special session of Parliament scheduled to begin on April 16.This comes as the Parliament is set to meet for a three-day special session from April 16, with a focus on the Women's Reservation Amendment Bill.
The Government has planned two major amendments. 2023's Nari Shakti Vandan Act tied women's reservation to the new census and delimitation. Due to census delays, the plan is to proceed with the 2011 census data.
The 2011 census is to be the basis for delimitation and seat redistribution. Lok Sabha seats may increase from 543 to 816 post-amendment. A bill will be introduced in Parliament to amend the Nari Shakti Vandan Act.
A separate Delimitation Bill will be introduced in Parliament
A separate Delimitation Bill will be introduced. Both bills need to be passed as Constitutional amendments for women's reservation. The new Lok Sabha is likely to have more than 800 seats. Keeping up with the status quo, there is no provision for OBC reservation, and SC/ST reservation will continue. However, states won't have a role; the bill passed by Parliament will apply to them.
Currently, the Lok Sabha has 543 seats. With a proposed 50% increase, the number of seats will rise to 816, with 273 (about a third) reserved for women.
The government's key point is that they won't wait for a new census to give women, comprising half the country's population, fair representation in Parliament. Instead, delimitation will be done using the 2011 census data.
Meanwhile, Congress on Monday criticised the government, alleging a political "U-turn" aimed at influencing voters in poll-bound states.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, urged bipartisan support for the proposed amendment. Addressing a rally in Assam, he said, "There should be no politics on this. I urge Congress to support the amendment so that a unanimous decision in favour of women is taken."
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