Why women’s reservation bill now? Speculation are rife
The Parliament of India began a new journey today with the special session shifting to the new building. Short Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha sessions were held, primarily to introduce the women’s reservation bill. The bill envisages reservation of 33 per cent of the seats in the Lok Sabha and the state legislatures for women.
However, speculation has been rife as to the reason for bringing in the bill in this special session. As per the bill, even if it is passed, which it most likely would, given the across-the-parties support for it, it would not come into effect until after the Lok Sabha constituency delimitation exercise is over, followed by the decadal census.
The census was due to happen in 2021 but has continuously been postponed. The delimitation has to happen after 2026, as it will be based on the population of the first census conducted after the year 2026. Hence the women’s reservations would into effect till the 2029 general elections.
So what was the hurry to suddenly bring in the bill now? Is it an effort by Prime Minister Modi and BJP to grab headlines and through it, enough support before the elections in the five states of Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram, and the general elections? The BJP is in opposition in the four big states, and in the small state of Mizoram, the ruling party supports the NDA.
