New Delhi, Mar 24 (PTI) The government’s plan to implement the women’s reservation law by increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from the present 543 may require carving out the new constituencies from the present seats, sources said on Tuesday.
To implement the women’s quota law even before the delimitation exercise, the government plans to bring two bills to reserve 273 seats for women.
By amending the Delimitation Act, the central government plans to create new 273 seats for women.
One plausible way is to carve out the new seats from the present 543, an official explained.
The official noted that while there are norms to reserve seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribe, there is no yardstick at present to reserve seats for women.
One way could be to go for a “draw of lots” to decide on the 273 seats proposed for women.
To reserve similar 33 per cent seats for women in state legislative assemblies, a “pro rata” formula will be applied.
The data of the Census 2011 will be used for the redrawing of constituencies as the ongoing census is yet to be completed.
The provision to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies was brought by amending the Constitution, but it will come into effect after the completion of the delimitation exercise.
According to the broad contours available, the number of Lok Sabha seats would be increased from the present 543 to 816, with 273 seats reserved for women. The reservation will also be done in a “vertical basis” with seats allocated for SCs and STs.
While a Constitution amendment bill will tweak the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, commonly known as women’s reservation law, another ordinary bill will amend the Delimitation Act.
Once approved by Parliament, the proposed laws will come into force on March 31, 2029 and will help reserve seats in the next Lok Sabha elections and assembly elections in Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh.
The sources also underlined that a delimitation or boundary commission is a “neutral” body mandated to redraw Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies, and its decisions cannot be challenged even in the Supreme Court.
They said a neutral body will instil faith in the delimitation exercise.
The Election Commission is another independent institution, but it cannot be mandated to carry out a pan-India delimitation exercise.
“At best, it can carry out delimitation of one or a few states, as it carried out delimitation in Assam recently,” a government functionary pointed out.
Besides the delimitation exercise, which can decide the constituencies that can be reserved for women, as it does for the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes (by way of population in their cases), another way to decide on constituencies can be by rotation.
A Lok Sabha seat usually consists of five ore more assembly constituencies.
In September 2023, President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Nari Shakti Vandan Bill.
The law is officially known as the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act.
The sources said the Act, though not yet in force, can still be amended by Parliament through another Constitution amendment bill, if the government wishes so and it gets the required support in the two Houses.
According to its provision, it shall come into force on such date as the Central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint.
The Constitution (106th Amendment) Bill was passed by Lok Sabha with near unanimity and Rajya Sabha with unanimity.
When the bill was passed, the government noted that the next census and the subsequent delimitation exercise would ascertain the particular seats being earmarked for women.
The quota for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies will continue for 15 years, and Parliament can later extend the benefit period.
While there is a quota within quota for SC and ST women, the opposition had demanded that the benefit be also extended to Other Backward Classes (OBCs). PTI NAB ZMN
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