Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday introduced three key bills in the Lok Sabha during special sessions – including reservation for women in Parliament.
In September 2023, Parliament passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, commonly known as the Women’s Reservation Act, marking a major step towards increasing the representation of women in legislatures. The law provides for the reservation of one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women.
While the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed unanimously in 2023, the government did not implement it. The amendment in the bill will focus on introducing a quota for women in Parliament as well as delimiting and revising Lok Sabha seats based on the 2011 census.
The amendments to the Women’s Reservation Act will increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha to 816, of which 273 will be reserved for women. Here’s who said what about the account:
What did the government say?
Amit ShahUnion Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said everyone should support the historic move, a change “which should definitely happen for the better, without delay”.
In a post on X, Shah said, “The Women’s Reservation Act is the need of the hour. This is the right of our Nari Shakti to contribute to policy making and empower the nation. The Modi government is determined to introduce and implement this legislation.”
“This is a change that should definitely happen for the better, without delay. I hope everyone will step up and support this historic step,” he said.
Nishikant Dubey: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey says, “Today is a dark chapter for the Congress. On this day, Swedish radio announced that Bofors was delivered to the Indian government, including ₹64 million commission. The Congress party has long sought to suppress the information… The 2010 Income Tax ruling during Manmohan Singh’s prime ministership revealed that Win Chaddha and Quattrocchi had indeed taken over the commission, leading to the seizure ₹53 million of their Indian assets which have been deposited in a government account… We will reveal more information from time to time. The important point is that the Bofors scam has been shown to have happened…”
Nitin Gadkari: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari says, “It is a historic law for women. I believe it is a revolutionary law in the history of the country. Women will get equal opportunities in a democracy.”
Prakash Reddy: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Prakash Reddy said there was “no justification in opposing the delimitation exercise” while criticizing the INDIA bloc for what he called a contradictory stance on constitutional and legislative matters.
Speaking to ANI, Reddy said, “The INDI alliance has finally said that it will support the women’s reservation bill but not the delimitation bill.”
Referring to past delimitation exercises in the country, Reddy said, “Earlier in 1971, the Congress party itself completed the delimitation bill, passed the bill and reorganized the constituencies.”
He added, “Even during the reorganization in 2009, though it started during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee period, the final process of reorganization and delimitation was completed by the Manmohan Singh government.
Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora says, “On behalf of the Shiv Sena, we have extended our full support to the Government of India and thank the Prime Minister for bringing these amendments. The delimitation bill is on the agenda. We fully believe that with the new legislation, reservation and delimitation of women will be a reality across Lokt Sabha seats and state assemblies. Some states are genuinely concerned as to how the share of seats will increase, if the number of seats in the Govt House is increased 50% increase, then there will be to continue the same proportion that exists between the Southern and Northern States, so that you need not fear any States…”
Kangana Ranaut: Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Women’s Reservation Act, calling it a historic step towards empowering women and ensuring their participation in politics. She also highlighted the security concerns of women in West Bengal ahead of the assembly elections in the state.
“This Prime Minister’s dream is that women who are the most backward class will be considered as the most backward class, they will be given reservation and they will be given this protection in politics. So this dream of his will now come true where women get 33 percent reservation,” Ranaut told ANI.
What did the opposition say?
Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “I think reservation for women is much needed because despite the promise of equal rights for so many years, women have been kept out of politics and our representation is proof of that. Even after the reservation bill is passed, there are only 13% women representatives in the Lok Sabha… When we discussed this in 2023, our questions were joined as to why it can’t be applied and why it can’t be applied immediately to the existing number of seats. everyone voted for the reservation, but unfortunately the way the government is presenting it to everyone without any discussion is deplorable and shows the arrogance of the government…”
DMK MP A Raja he says: “It is a complete travesty to take the Constitution amendment and the delimitation bill together. This is completely undemocratic and illegal. We will oppose it.”
Gaurav Gogoi says, “…Time and again you are creating hurdles for women reservation. If you had listened to us in 2023, women reservation would have been implemented in 2024. We insist that women reservation should not be linked to delimitation. If you do that, we will definitely support it. This bill is not for reservation for women, it is for backdoor delimitation.”
Ravula Sridhar Reddy: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader Ravula Sridhar Reddy on Monday said the Center must examine all aspects and suggestions coming from various stakeholders before implementing the Women’s Reservation Act to ensure justice in all states.
Speaking to ANI, he welcomed the bill saying that if the seats are distributed proportionally, the implementation of the law will not create any problems.
“Centre’s proposal to increase seats by 50 per cent in all states, I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. If seats are increased proportionally in all states, I don’t see any major harm. But since the decision is at an early stage, the Center must definitely look into all aspects and suggestions coming from various stakeholders, build a national consensus and do it is already late, but delay is already late, delimitation. I think the central government and the cabinet they will take a decision on the implementation of the law as soon as possible,” he said.
