New Delhi: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s P. Wilson, a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, proposed a private bill that aims to implement women’s reservation immediately and delink it from delimitation on April 18. Can implement women’s reservation immediatelyOn April 18, Wilson moved a Constitution Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha proposing that reservation for women be operational from the next election, and within the existing strength of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha. Women’s reservation can be granted in the Lower House, state legislative assemblies, the Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry national assemblies immediately upon the expiry of the present term of the respective Houses, within their existing strength, and without awaiting delimitation or census, Wilson’s proposal for the bill stated, in its statement of objects and reasons. The proposal also targets that this reservation be made permanent, “forming an integral part of the constitutional framework, rather than being confined to a limited duration, in order to secure enduring and substantive gender equality in political representation”.“If the Government is really serious about implementing women’s reservations which has already been enacted by the Parliament vide Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, there is no need to link it to delimitation or census. It can be implemented straightaway in the current strength of the House, after the expiry of the term of the House,” the bill proposed.No reallocation or readjustment of constituencies would thus be required and this would ensure that the “implementation of women’s reservation is not delayed on account of uncertainties surrounding delimitation”, it said:“The proposed amendments are thus intended to achieve a balanced constitutional objective-on the one hand, safeguarding federal equity by making any reallocation of seats subject to the collective will of the States, and on the other, advancing social justice and gender justice by ensuring the immediate implementation of women’s reservation without procedural impediments.”Freeze delimitation till 2051The bill also sought to extend the freeze on delimitation till 2051 so that states can take this time to bring down their fertility rates – which have not converged yet, and which will need to happen for delimitation to work the way it is supposed to. The bill also sought to require a 2/3rd majority of States to reallocate Lok Sabha seats.“This requirement ensures that the federal structure of the Constitution is preserved and that no State is subjected to a forced alteration of its representational strength,” as per the bill’s statement of objects and reasons. The DMK proposed this private bill a day after the NDA government failed to pass a constitutional amendment Bill to increase the number of seats in Parliament to 850. While the government said that this was being done to ensure women’s reservation, opposition parties had pointed out that this was a clear exercise of delimitation – which will lead to lesser representation for some states including several southern states based on population levels. The DMK, a political party in Tamil Nadu, has been very vocal about the issues with this bill. On April 16, DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had burned a copy of the bill at Namakkal, as part of a statewide protest against it. After the bill failed to secure majority votes (falling short by 54 votes) on April 17, Tamil Nadu Minister for Natural Resources and DMK leader S. Ragupathi described the defeat of the delimitation-linked constitutional amendment bill as a “first victory” for the state and accused the BJP of attempting to undermine Tamil Nadu’s rights through the proposed legislation, TNIE had reported. RS chairman refused permission, says WilsonIn a social media post on X, Wilson said that he had introduced the private member’s bill and given a notice under Rule 267 to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to permit motion of the Bill. “However he refused permission,” Wilson said in the post. “The Government did not support this Bill. What could have been done so simply was turned into a complicated affair because the BJP has no intention of implementing Women’s Reservation. This proves beyond doubt that the BJP led NDA only wants to play politics in the name of #NariShakti and sneak in #delimitation. Instead of shouting from the rooftops, I challenge the BJP to adopt my PMB or bring a Bill similar to mine to implement Women’s Reservation without ‘ifs and buts’ and linkage to delimitation or census. If they can’t, it’s further proof that BJP is Bharatiya Jumla Party.”However, according to two news reports, both Houses of Parliament were adjourned indefinitely on Friday, April 17, and the Bill could not be taken up.