Centre May Bypass Delimitation, Census To Fast Forward Women's Quota To 2029

The law for 33 per cent reservation for women in parliament and state legislature on freeze for long, the government is hoping to implement it ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.Consultations with Opposition parties are in progress and if need be, the government will introduce a Constitutional Amendment Bill during the current parliamentary session for this, sources said.  Besides the Constitution Amendment Bill, the government is also working on a second bill to set up a Delimination Commission. A cabinet meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, is likely to clear these two bills, sources said.

On Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah took charge of the initiative and held discussions with leaders of several regional parties of the Opposition bloc. The list included the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction), Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction), YSR Congress, AIMIM, and BJD. Late on Monday evening, he also held a meeting with NDA allies to brief them on the matter. 

On Tuesday, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has convened a meeting of leaders from the 'INDIA' bloc to formulate their strategy. Congress MP Manickam Tagore said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has already spoken with Kharge thrice regarding this issue.

Why The Amendment

Section 5 of the Women's Reservation Act says the law will come into force only after the delimitation exercise is completed. But with the process yet to begin, government sources said an amendmet of the law is now being considered.

The amendment could allow the implementation of the law in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, even in the absence of a delimitation exercise. The aim is essentially to delink the women's reservation mandate from the delimitation process.

It is estimated that the Census process will be completed by March 1, 2027, and after the results get published, a Delimitation Commission will be formed. The implementation of delimitation could take up to another three years. By that time, the 2029 Lok Sabha elections will be over --- if the law is not amended.

During the parliamentary debates on the bill, the Opposition had raised objections to the linking of reservation to census and delimitation, arguing that it would lead to delays in implementation.

Sources said the bill would propose that instead of relying on data derived from the ongoing census process, the 2011 population figures be used as basis for the delimitation exercise.