33% women's quota: Opposition seeks all-party meet over govt's push to amend Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam

Government had reached out to parties like Congress and Samajwadi Party with a proposal to amend the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam to fasten the implementation of the 33% quota for women in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.

New Delhi: Opposition parties are not enthusiastic about discussing the contours of changes in the law for 33% women's quota individually with the Narendra Modi government and have conveyed their demand for calling an all-party meeting to discuss the issue, sources said.

They read the government's reach-out, which they called "selective" in approach, as part of its realisation that it does not have the two-thirds majority either in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha for carrying out an amendment to the Constitution, they said.

The government had recently reached out to major parties like the Congress and the Samajwadi Party with a proposal to amend the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 or the 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam', which was passed in a special session in September 2023, to fasten the implementation of the 33% quota for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.

The proposal is to delink delimitation exercise after the next Census with the implementation of the quota, sources said. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju is learnt to have approached the leadership of the Congress and the SP for a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah as part of the consultation process.

On principle, both the parties are not opposed to women's quota though they have demanded that there should be a quota-within-quota for OBCs in the 33% reservation on the lines of those for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

Sources said the government's move was seen with suspicion by the Opposition, as it felt that it was a bid to garner major parties' support and then force others into a consensus. Congress sources said party chief Mallikarjun Kharge had consultations with Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and demanded that an all-party meeting should be convened to discuss the issue.

A senior Opposition leader said the government's reach out to the major parties this time is in complete contrast to 2023 when it brought the Bill to Parliament in a special session. The leader said there was no official word about what would be the business of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha then and said that time, the government was confident about getting two-thirds majority.

This time, the difference is that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections have brought the NDA below the 300 mark, the leader said. The government would need 363 votes to get a Constitution amendment Bill passed in the Lok Sabha if all 543 members vote, but presently, the NDA has only 293 while in 2023, the BJP-led alliance had 353 MPs.

On March 9, DH reported that the government was yet to take a final call on bringing the Bill. If the changes come into place soon, the 33% quota could be implemented during the round of elections in 2027, which include the one in Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress' 2024 Lok Sabha election manifesto had said the existing Act was the “BJP’s great betrayal of women”, as it contains the “sinister provisions” that will allow the reservation of seats to come into operation only beyond 2029. It had then promised to “delete the sinister provisions” and make provisions for its immediate implementations.