India
oi-Ashish Rana
Turning the delimitation debate into a fresh attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused the party of spreading “falsehood” and fuelling divisions by claiming that redrawing parliamentary constituencies would hurt some states under the proposed women’s reservation framework.
PM Modi accused Congress of spreading falsehoods about delimitation harming states under the women’s reservation framework, citing divisive politics. He clarified that no state’s representation would diminish, but the related Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha.
“Congress has inherited this politics from the British. And Congress is still running on that very crutch even today,” Modi said, alleging that the party had long relied on divisive politics. He claimed the Congress had deliberately stoked fears around delimitation by suggesting that some states would lose out if the Women’s Reservation Bill was implemented through a seat expansion model tied to redistricting.
Seeking to counter that argument, the Prime Minister said the government had made its position clear from the beginning. “Congress has always fanned the emotions that create divisions in the country. That’s why this falsehood was spread that delimitation or redistricting will harm some states,” he said. Clarifying the Centre’s stand, he added, “Whereas the government has made it clear from day one that the proportion of participation of no state will change, nor will anyone’s representation diminish; rather, the seats of all states will increase in equal proportion.”
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which sought to operationalise 33 per cent reservation for women before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, proposed increasing Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 816 following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census. It also aimed to expand seats in state and Union Territory assemblies. However, the bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday night after the ruling alliance failed to secure the required two-thirds majority, receiving 298 votes in favour and 230 against, short of the 352 needed out of 528 votes cast.
