The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Women’s Reservation and Delimitation: Hold Wider Consultations
The CPI(M) has been and is committed to a mandatory reservation of one third seats for women in Parliament and State Assemblies. This is why in 2023, despite our opposition to the linking of women’s reservation to the census and delimitation as proposed in the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam we supported the passage of the Bill as also the 108th Amendment to the Constitution for reservation of one third seats for women. Even at that time we had said that the linkage will mean such a delay that women will be denied their right to one third seats not only in the 2024 elections but also in the 2029 elections.
Now after two years where neither a Delimitation Commission has been set up nor the Census started as promised, the Modi government has come up with new proposals once again without any discussions with the opposition parties despite the repeated demand for an all-party meeting. It is highly objectionable and unacceptable that such a proposal is being made at a time of state assembly elections geared to a narrow political aim of electoral benefit.
The proposal itself makes a fresh link of women’s reservation to another aim, namely an increase in the number of seats in Parliament and in Assemblies through a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 census. This raises many issues which cannot be pushed through and requires discussion and consultation with all states.
The CPI(M) demands that the proposals be postponed to enable wider discussions and consultations with all political parties and states regarding the implication of the increase in seats. We reiterate that women’s reservation can be implemented from the 2029 General Election in the given framework which will require an amendment to delink women’s reservations from the Census and delimitation. But clearly the Modi government lacks the required political will to do so.