Government Releases FAQs on Women's Reservation Bill After Parliamentary Defeat

NEW DELHI: Govt on Sunday released a set of frequently asked questions on its bill, now defeated in Parliament, for fast-tracking women's quota in legislatures with a 50% hike in Lok Sabha seats, as part of its campaign to debunk what it called a 'false and misleading narrative' by Congress and its allies. Govt said delimitation was essential to implement women's reservation, and, in light of India's population surging to 140 crore from 54 crore in 1971, it was in the interest of fair representation to increase the number of constituencies to 850. "No changes were proposed to the Delimitation Commission Act. Any recommendations of the commission would require parliamentary approval and Presidential assent. Ongoing elections, including those in states like Tamil Nadu or West Bengal, would not be affected, as elections up to 2029 will be conducted under the current system," it said. With southern states leading the campaign against the bill, BJP sent MP Anurag Thakur to Karnataka, where he claimed Congress had exposed its anti-women agenda. "If misogyny was an Olympic sport, Congress would win a gold medal," he said, adding this marked the fifth time Congress and its allies stalled women's reservation. "The narrative claiming south India will suffer is a 100% lie; not a single southern state would lose even a fraction of its proportional voice," he said. Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said, "Modi govt is on a damage control exercise after its humiliating defeat in LS on April 17. It has released a set of FAQs and answers — not before introducing its bill but after they failed to pass LS." In answers to 14 questions, govt defended the amendments, noting the original law provides that reservation for women be implemented based on delimitation after the census post-2026. It said, "If govt had waited for the census and subsequent delimitation, women would not have been able to benefit... even in the 2029 elections..." The proposal to allow 850 seats was based on a proportional expansion approach, govt said. It added that small states would see a uniform 50% increase in seats. With an expanded house, the number of seats reserved for SCs and STs would have risen significantly, govt said. Rejecting the charge that the bill was aimed at delaying caste census, govt said a time-bound exercise for it had already begun.