Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 17 (PTI) BJP Kerala president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday termed the defeat of the Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the Lok Sabha seats as a “historical betrayal” of women by the Congress, CPI(M) and their alliance.
Chandrasekhar claimed that the “true face” of the two parties and their INDIA bloc has been revealed as they voted against the amendments sought to be made in the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, commonly known as the Women’s Reservation Act.
He alleged that the opposition parties raised a false propaganda in the name of constituency delimitation as a tactic to prevent the 33 per cent reservation that women deserve.
“The women of Kerala and India are seeing all this. They will never forgive this anti-women stand,” he contended.
While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
According to the Constitution Amendment Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in states and Union Territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
The Congress and the Left had been opposing the Constitution Amendment Bill on the ground that it was an attempt by the BJP to retain power by giving more representation to north Indian states through the delimitation exercise.
They also said that they were in favour of women’s reservation in the Parliament and state legislatures and asked the Centre to implement it without increasing the seats in the Lok Sabha.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said, earlier in the day, that there was “no sincerity” behind the Bill.
“If they (Centre) are sincere about women reservation, they should implement it in the current number of seats in the Lok Sabha,” he told reporters in Delhi.
He said that the opposition was unitedly opposing the amendment as it was aimed at “destroying” the unity and democracy in the country.
“These will not benefit the country. It will only weaken the democracy in the country. The amendments have been brought with an eye on the elections,” he contended in the morning.
CPI state secretary Binoy Viswom attacked the BJP on the issue, contending that the party which was waxing eloquent about women’s rights and reservation had sidelined President Droupadi Murmu from the inauguration of the new Parliament building in 2023.
“So, stop such dramas. BJP is playing games under the guise of protecting women’s rights to reduce representation of southern states, where it does not have much influence, in the Parliament. They are preparing a political trap.
“Women need reservation, but the fraud being committed by the BJP in that name should be stopped and the PM should apologise to the nation,” Viswom told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
Later in the day, Congress leader from Ernakulam Deepti Mary Varghese said that the opposition in the Lok Sabha was not against reservation for women in legislatures.
“The opposition is in favour of implementing it in the current strength of the Lok Sabha. But the BJP wants to implement it on the basis of the 2011 census. A census was supposed to be carried out in 2021, but it has not been till now,” she told reporters in Kochi.
Instead, the BJP in “an unethical manner” was trying to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha without considering the views of the state, she alleged.
A special three-day sitting of Parliament was convened from April 16 to 18, during which amendments to the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, commonly known as the Women’s Reservation Act, mandating 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, were to be brought for implementation in 2029. PTI HMP ROH
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