Special Parliament sitting to push women’s Lok Sabha reservation: PM Narendra Modi

ASpecial three-day posing of Parliament from apr 16 to 18 testament fast-track the effectuation of 33% women’s reserve in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, assuring southern states that their representation will not reduce and adding that the total number of seats in the Lower House will increase.Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally in poll-bound Kerala, Modi said no state that worked to control its population will see a drop in seats and that the reservation for women will be over and above the current strength of Parliament. He said that the government had invited the Opposition for a meeting and urged all parties to pass the amendments to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam unanimously.“It’s our government that has provided 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. Parliament is going to reconvene for three days from April 16 to 18. The benefits of the law we passed should start flowing during the 2029 Lok Sabha elections,” Modi said at the rally in Thiruvalla. The 140-member Kerala assembly goes to the polls on April 9, and the counting of votes will be on May 4.“In states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, which have done well in tackling population rise, we ensure that the number of Lok Sabha seats will not be reduced. The seats reserved for women would be additional seats. We have called the Congress leaders for a meeting on this, and we hope that they will listen to us.”This is the first time the government has confirmed that it is looking to expand the strength of the Lok Sabha as part of its plan to operationalise the women’s reservation bill, passed in 2023. HT has reported that the government is working on bills to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha to 816.“Our aim is clear: to ensure 33% representation for women in Parliament from 2029 onwards. There have been rumours about seats being reduced based on population in states. We want to reassure all states that no seat will be reduced. In fact, the total number of seats will increase, benefiting every region of the country, including South India,” Modi added, as quoted by the BJP on X.The budget session of Parliament was not prorogued or ended sine die earlier this week. Both Houses will meet on April 16. The government wants to delink the bill from the ongoing census and roll it out from the 2029 Lok Sabha polls. Tamil Nadu goes to the polls on April 23. West Bengal goes to the polls on April 23 and 29.The Opposition has attacked the government over reports that it plans to expand the strength of the Lok Sabha and set up a delimitation commission, asserting that the government’s push for a rushed delimitation exercise would have “dangerous consequences and alleging that it will violate the model code of conduct in place for the five-region assembly elections this month.In addition, leaders from southern India, such as Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy, have raised concerns over what they fear will be an “unfair delimitation exercise”. To be sure, the Congress has indicated that it might back amendments to the women’s reservation bill. Several Opposition parties had suggested the immediate implementation of the law when it was passed in 2023.HT previously reported that the move could increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabhato 816. Of this, 273 will be reserved for women, and the proportional representation of each state will remain the same. The number 816 is close to the 814.5 figure that can be arrived at by increasing the number of seats in the Lok Sabha, currently at 543, by a third. Proportional representation means, for instance, that Uttar Pradesh, with 80 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha (14.73%), will have 120 seats in the new Lok Sabha; and Tamil Nadu, with 39 seats (7.18%), will have 59.In the rally, Modi also hit out at the Congress and the Left parties, accusing them of damaging the faith and purity at the Sabarimala temple.“Be it corruption or the Left and Congress’s politics of appeasement, the impact has been felt also on the state’s culture and belief systems. They orchestrated to insult the faith and purity at Sabarimala. And now Sabarimala is being looted,” he said, in the backdrop of the case of misappropriation of gold assets at the Sabarimala temple, currently being investigated by a special team of the Kerala police.At least three CPI(M) leaders and several top Devaswom officials have been arrested so far in the case.The PM further alleged that while the loot took place under the Left Democratic Front (LDF) administration, those accused of theft have been found to be connected to senior leaders of the Congress party. His reference was to the photographs on social media of Unnikrishnan Potty, the first accused in the case, with senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi years ago. He claimed that leaders of the Left parties are known for attacking the Hindu faith and are therefore reluctant to hand over the case to the CBI.“Congress, which is distanced from temple-related matters, is playing drama and pretending to be the well-wishers of the Hindu faith. When an NDA government is formed, LDF and UDF leaders will be punished. What has been looted (from Sabarimala) will have to be returned. These people cannot escape the anger of the believers of Lord Ayyappa,” he said.The PM argued that the rivalry of the Left parties and the Congress in Kerala is fake. “They are two sides of the same coin. Their rivalry is fake and their friendship is evergreen. In Delhi, they come together to form governments. Even in Tamil Nadu, they are together,” he said.The PM landed in Kerala around 3 pm and held a public rally in Thiruvalla to support NDA candidates in the central districts of Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Alappuzha. Afterwards, he flew to Thiruvananthapuram to hold a roadshow in the city. He departed for Delhi soon afterwards.