Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The Centre is likely to reintroduce the Delimitation Bill during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament and has begun consultations with regional parties to build consensus on the issue, sources told India Today on Thursday.
Sources said that the government has reached out to parties like the DMK and the Trinamool Congress as part of its efforts to reintroduce the Bill. Several TMC MPs have responded positively to the government’s approach and are open to discussions on delimitation, sources added.
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The DMK, which has been vocal about concerns surrounding the exercise, has also not displayed rigidity during consultations and is awaiting the government’s revised draft of the Bill, sources said.
The government outreach to regional parties is being seen as a move to secure broader political support before bringing the legislation back to Parliament.
The latest development comes more than a month after the Lok Sabha rejected a bill that sought to fast-track the implementation of women’s quota and carry out delimitation without conducting a fresh Census.
Out of 528 members who participated in the vote, 298 backed the Bill while 230 opposed it. It fell short of the 352 votes the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) needed to secure the required two-thirds majority.
The Bill had aimed to bypass the requirement of a new Census for delimitation, a provision that has remained central to the rollout of women’s quota in legislatures.
After the Bill failed to secure the required two-thirds majority, the Union Minister Kiren Rijiju urged Speaker Om Birla not to proceed with two other legislation – the Delimitation Bill, 2026 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
The government had convened a special three-day sitting of Parliament from April 16 to 18 to consider amendments to the “Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam”, or the Women’s Reservation Act. The law provided for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.
The proposed amendments were aimed at enabling the implementation of the quota by 2029. They also sought to expand the strength of the Lok Sabha to 850 seats from the current 543 in order to operationalise the reservation framework ahead of the next general elections.
As part of the plan, delimitation was to be carried out based on the last published Census, a move that drew objections from the Opposition. Several opposition parties had opposed the amendments in Parliament and demanded that the Centre withdraw them.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
