Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 16 : Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray has said that the Women's Reservation Act should be implemented immediately, and the Delimitation issue should not be pushed as it requires more discussion.
His views were articulated by party leader Sanjay Raut in a post on X.
Uddhav Thackeray said there is currently a political uproar regarding the Women's Reservation Bill and Shiv Sena (UBT)'s position is clear.
"The Women's Reservation Bill was already passed in Parliament in 2023. Accordingly, implement the 33% women's reservation immediately! A temporary break/pause must be applied to the delimitation (reorganisation of electoral constituencies) issue," he said.
"This is an important matter for broader national unity. For us, this is not about any one party's political future but about the future of the country. Therefore, more discussion and deliberation on it is necessary," he added.
The opposition parties have raised serious concerns over the Delimitation Bill and the manner in which the government has sought to increase the strength of Lok Sabha to implement the Women's quota bill.
Participating in a debate in Lok Sabha on three bills, including a legislation to implement women's reservation Act from 2029 general elections and the Delimitation Bill, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the government of trying to mislead people and attacking democracy in the country.
She attacked the government over the manner in which it is seeking to implement the Women's Reservation Act, saying OBCs are being deprived of their rights, the influence of some states is being reduced and an architecture is being created to strengthen BJP "by blowing democracy to smithereens".
Assuring full support for women's reservation to the government if done with honesty, she called upon the government to implement it within the existing strength of the Lok Sabha, along with reservation for SC, ST and OBC women.
"The government is trying to befool people and is attacking the integrity of the country in a big way. On the one hand, there is big talk, on the other the rights of OBCs are sought to be taken away silently and democracy is being blown to smithereens by reducing power of some states," she alleged.
Priyanka Gandhi questioned the government's decision to link the Women's Reservation (Amendment) Bill to an increase in Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 850, based on 2011 population Census figures.
"Firstly, it is written that Women Reservation should be implemented from 2029. We support it. Then it says that to implement the Bill, the Lok Sabha seats would increase from 533 to 850. It would be based on the 2011 population census," she said, expressing concern over the removal of the 2023 provision that required population census followed by delimitation.
"They want to move forward with the 2011 census because there are no figures for the OBC community in it," she said, noting that the Constitution is for everyone and cannot run by "snatching somebody's right".
The Wayanad MP alleged lack of transparency in the seat expansion process, calling it "dangerous" with no clear mechanism for how it would occur.
"Another dangerous thing in this is that there is no clear process mentioned about how the 50% change in the Lok Sabha will take place," she said.
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