India fails to pass bill to boost women’s representation after delimitation row
Summary
India’s parliament did not pass a bill that aimed to increase women’s seats in parliament to one-third. The bill also included changes to redraw electoral boundaries based on population, which caused strong disagreement among politicians, especially from southern states.Key Facts
- The bill proposed reserving one-third of parliamentary seats for women.
- It combined women’s representation with a redrawing of electoral districts called delimitation.
- Delimitation would increase the number of members in the lower house from 543 to about 850.
- This was the first constitutional amendment proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP government that failed in 12 years.
- The bill needed a two-thirds majority but received 298 votes for and 230 against, failing to pass.
- Opposition parties united against the bill, claiming delimitation favored northern states and hurt southern states.
- Southern states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala worry delimitation will reduce their political power due to lower population growth.
- The previous redrawing of electoral boundaries was done in 1971, and southern states want to keep those boundaries frozen.
- The BJP argued the bill was important for women’s empowerment and fair representation based on population.
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