The bill is expected to be introduced this weekend.
In a bid to build a larger consensus for its move to bring in an amendment to the Women’s Reservation Bill to delink it from the upcoming delimitation process, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday met several non-Congress Opposition parties.
Present at the meeting were AIMIM, NCP and YSRCP among others. Shah also held a meeting with NDA partners later in the day to discuss details. The bill is expected to be introduced this weekend.
While the government has previously sent feelers to the Congress, as reported by DH, a formal meeting is awaited. The government has also send feelers to the Samajwadi Party, and is also yet to hold formal talks with the DMK or TMC. Additionally, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is holding a meeting among Opposition leaders on Tuesday to discuss the matter.
According to sources, the government is preparing to introduce two major amendments. This includes an amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (or, the Women’s Reservation Act) 2023. As per the act, women’s reservation was linked to the new census and the subsequent delimitation exercise. “Due to delays in conducting the census, the plan is now to proceed based on the 2011 census data,” a senior government manager said. To this end, an amendment bill to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is likely to be introduced this week.
The government is also preparing to introduce a separate bill for a consensus on the increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats. The 2011 census will serve as the basis for the delimitation and the redetermination of seats. Following the passage of the amendment bill, the number of Lok Sabha seats could increase from 543 to 816, government sources said.
After Shah’s meeting with a handful of Opposition leaders including Supriya Sule of the NCP (Sharad faction), Asaduddin Owaisi of the AIMIM and Y Midhun Reddy of the YSRCP, a meeting of NDA parliamentary floor leaders took place with Shah, where leaders including union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha, RJD’s Lallan Singh, Shiv Sena MPs Shrikant Shinde and Milind Deora, AIADMK’s M Thambidurai, Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel, NCP’s Praful Patel, RLD MP Rajkumar Sangwan, apart from other NDA MPs.
