New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday strongly defended the government’s push for women’s reservation, asserting that the public is closely observing which political forces stand in the way of its implementation. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, he accused opposition parties of indirectly resisting the proposal despite publicly supporting it.
Shah was replying to a debate on key legislative proposals, including the Constitution amendment related to women’s reservation and bills aimed at initiating the delimitation process. He argued that delimitation is essential to ensure fair representation by balancing the number of voters across constituencies. According to him, disparities currently exist, with some constituencies having as many as 40 lakh voters while others have significantly fewer, undermining the principle of equal value for each vote.
The Home Minister emphasised that delimitation is constitutionally mandated and also plays a critical role in increasing representation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population. He maintained that opposing delimitation effectively means resisting the expansion of these reserved seats.
Referring to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, Shah stated that its implementation depends on conducting a fresh delimitation exercise following the census. He noted that the freeze on the number of parliamentary seats, introduced decades ago, must be lifted to enable the law to take effect.
He also dismissed concerns that the move is intended to delay caste enumeration, pointing out that the government has already initiated steps to include caste data in the upcoming census exercise.
Highlighting political arithmetic, Shah said that passing the constitutional amendment requires a two thirds majority, making opposition support crucial. He added that the government is open to increasing the total number of Lok Sabha seats by 50 percent through an official amendment if broader consensus is achieved.
The debate saw participation from over a hundred members, reflecting the significance of the proposed reforms in shaping future electoral representation.
