New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) Left leaders on Thursday criticised the Centre’s move to link women’s reservation with a fresh delimitation exercise, calling it a “devious” and “nefarious” attempt to alter India’s political balance in the guise of a pro-women reform.
CPI-M General Secretary M A Baby said the current proposal departs from earlier efforts that had already laid a clear roadmap for implementing women’s reservation in legislatures.
Referring to the Geeta Mukherjee Committee report, Baby said that “it was very clear about how we should go about” ensuring representation for women.
Recalling that a constitutional amendment passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010 could have been carried forward, the CPI-M leader said, “The same structure could have been followed. The present move by the government is a very devious attempt in the garb of introducing women’s reservation.” The remarks followed after the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to mandate 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state/UT Assemblies was introduced in the Lower House on Thursday after a division of votes.
Two ordinary bills – the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill to implement the proposed amended women’s quota in the Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir – were also introduced in the House on Thursday.
According to the draft Constitution amendment bill, Lok Sabha seats will be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women’s quote law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Baby alleged that the proposal embedded “a devious plan for delimitation of constituencies”, warning of potential “gerrymandering” and an imbalance in representation.
He also claimed that such an exercise could disproportionately benefit select northern states while “ignoring the southern and northeastern states”, thereby reshaping parliamentary representation.
He also raised concerns about institutional neutrality, referring to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and alleged that the future delimitation processes may not be impartial.
“Gyanesh Kumar, who should have conducted himself as an impartial referee, has now joined the ruling party. There will be a similar delimitation commission. Then gerrymandering would take place,” Baby alleged.
“The Parliament sessions would become a huge public meeting – and they (BJP) will have their way,” Baby said, calling it part of a “planned move” with ideological underpinnings.
The CPI-M leader also reiterated that women’s reservation could be implemented immediately without waiting for a fresh census or delimitation exercise.
“We have said that it (women’s quota) can be immediately implemented. The government delayed its rollout during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” Baby said.
He also criticised the Centre for not consulting the opposition parties ahead of the special Parliament session, calling it an attempt to “make the opposition parties a rubber stamp”.
Echoing similar concerns, CPI General Secretary D Raja termed women’s reservation a “proud legacy of the Communist movement”, tracing its origins to leaders like Renu Chakravartty and Geeta Mukherjee.
Raja also accused the BJP of using women’s reservation as a “smokescreen” to “alter India’s political geography and centralise power”.
“What was passed in 2023 reflected that long struggle. But the insidious Modi government deliberately shackled it to delimitation and census, rendering its implementation uncertain.
“There is still no clarity on census, caste enumeration, or the basis for future delimitation, now to be decided by a simple parliamentary majority by bypassing a constitutional amendment,” Raja said.
He also claimed that the government is “coercing” Parliament by seeking the suspension of Rule 66 to push the three bills together.
“Any vote against this sinister and anti-federal delimitation exercise is made to appear as a vote against women’s reservation,” Raja claimed.
Calling it a “nefarious political design”, the CPI leader accused the BJP of using women’s quota as a “smokescreen to alter India’s political geography and centralise power, disadvantaging the southern, smaller northern, and northeastern states”.
“People must see through this design and recognise the truth. A government that stalled women’s reservation for a decade, diluted it in law, and now manipulates parliamentary rules to force its agenda is anti-women.
“Discrimination with states that performed on population control and women’s welfare is also wholesale discrimination with the women of those states and across the country. This must be opposed,” Raja said.
In September 2023, Parliament passed the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, marking a significant step towards enhancing women’s representation in legislative bodies.
The Act provided for the reservation of one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.
Under the Act, the reservation for women would not become enforceable before 2034, as it was tied to the completion of the delimitation exercise post the 2027 Census.
To implement it from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, changes were needed in the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam; hence, the government is holding a three-day special sitting of Parliament to pass the amendments to the law. PTI AO ARI
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