Opposition huddles at Kharge's residence ahead of women's quota rollout
New Delhi: India's opposition parties are uniting to formulate a joint strategy concerning the Women's Reservation Act, addressing concerns over its implementation and linkage to delimitation before the upcoming special Parliament session.
Opposition meets before women quota rollout: Opposition leaders met to strategise on the Women's Reservation Act ahead of a special Parliament session. Several opposition parties are against linking the women's quota law with delimitation and the 2011 Census.
The government plans to introduce amendments to the Women's Reservation Act, aiming for 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies by 2029.
The draft bill proposes increasing Lok Sabha seats to 850 to accommodate the women's reservation after a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
On the eve of a special three-day sitting of Parliament, top opposition leaders on Wednesday met at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to discuss and evolve a joint strategy on the women's quota law.
Several opposition parties are opposed to the linking of the women's reservation law with a delimitation exercise and an increase in seats in several state Assemblies as per the 2011 Census, and have accused the ruling National Democratic Alliance of indulging in politics over the law.
Leaders of the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist were present at the meeting at Kharge's residence.
Besides Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, the other leaders at the meeting included DMK's T R Baalu, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, Trinamool's Sagarika Ghosh, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leaders Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar's Spriya Sule, with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav joining virtually.
CPI leader Annie Raja, CPI-M's Nilotpal Basu, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh, Independent MP Kapil Sibal, Indian Union Muslim Leagus's E T Mohammed Bashir and Revolutionary Socialist Party's N K Premchandran also attended the meeting, other than Congress general secretaries K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh.
The special three-day sitting of Parliament will be held from April 16 to 18, during which amendments to the 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam', commonly known as the Women's Reservation Act, mandating 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, will be brought for implementation in 2029.
Kharge had earlier convened a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary strategy group at his residence, where top party leaders discussed women's reservation and the delimitation exercise.
The government on Tuesday circulated bills related to the women's quota law and delimitation among the MPs.
The Congress has alleged that when the intent behind a bill is 'mischievous' and its content 'devious', the extent of damage to parliamentary democracy is 'enormous'.
Details of the Draft Bill : According to the draft bill, Lok Sabha seats will be increased to up to 850 from the current 543 to 'operationalise' the women's reservation law in 2029, after a delimitation exercise to be carried out based on the 2011 Census.
Seats would also be increased
