After a long debate on the bills related to women’s reservation in Parliament, they will now be presented for voting on Friday (April 17). During the heated discussion that lasted for more than 30 hours in the Lok Sabha, there was a fierce confrontation between the ruling NDA and the opposition on many issues, especially on linking reservation with the delimitation process.
Before voting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the opposition to support this bill. He indicated that the ruling coalition does not have enough numbers to pass this constitutional amendment bill on its own. The game of numbers will decide the time, he said, and challenged the opposition that if they oppose it, they may face a backlash from women voters.
The government has introduced three bills aimed at providing 33% reservation to women in Parliament and state assemblies. These include the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to amend the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Act, 2023’, the Delimitation Bill and the Bill related to implementation of reservation in Union Territories. Under the proposed amendment, a provision has also been made to increase the maximum number of members of the Lok Sabha to 850, whereas at present this number is 543.
What do the figures say?
To pass a constitutional amendment bill, a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting in the Lok Sabha is required, with at least half the total number of members present. Currently there are 540 members in the Lok Sabha (three seats are vacant), so the support of at least 360 MPs will be required to pass the bill.
The ruling NDA currently has 293 MPs, including 240 MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Thus the alliance needs the support of 67 additional MPs for a majority. In such a situation, the support or absence of Congress or other opposition parties can play a decisive role. The situation is somewhat similar in Rajya Sabha also. The two-thirds majority figure there is 163, while the NDA has around 145 members, due to which it is 18 seats behind the majority.
Political equations and the way forward
Analysts believe that although the NDA has a simple majority in both the houses, it may be challenging for it to achieve the special majority required for constitutional amendment. In such a situation, this bill will depend to a great extent on the stance of the opposition.
This bill is considered important in increasing the political participation of women, but the conditions related to delimitation and census regarding its implementation have made it the center of political debate. The upcoming vote will decide whether this historic proposal gets passed by the Parliament or not.
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