Reserved, yet deferred

The constitutional amendment bill might have given the BJP an immediate campaign issue, but the government will be under pressure. The opposition has tasted blood

- BY PRATUL SHARMA

In September 2023, when the government called a special session in the new Parliament building, speculation ran wild. Was India being renamed Bharat? Was a Uniform Civil Code coming? Simultaneous elections? It was a month after the monsoon session had ended, and the government was giving nothing away.

When the veil finally lifted, it was women's reservation. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam—mandating 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and assemblies—was passed with overwhelming support.

However, there was a catch. The implementation was tied to a fresh census and a delimitation exercise that would follow.

Three years later, it was déjà vu. The government called a three-day special session less than two weeks after the budget session, and presented three new bills. This time, there was no secrecy—it was the same cause. However, the plan was to use 2011 census data instead of waiting for the completion of the ongoing census, and to expand the Lok Sabha from 543 to 850 seats after delimitation. Under the proposed formula, the government had offered to increase the number of seats in all states and Union territories by 50 per cent, bypassing the existing population-based formula. This would keep the overall share of each state the same, thus preserving their political heft.

However, when the constitutional amendment bill was put to vote in the Lok Sabha, it failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to pass. The government fell 54 votes short. This was its first defeat in its twelve years in power.

The following day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on television, “apologising” to the women of India while accusing the opposition of betrayal.

The opposition, including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the DMK, hit back, extending their “assault on federalism” argument and bringing up delimitation in their speeches in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Both sides had secured campaign points.