"Devious move": MA Baby says Centre pushing delimitation in garb of women's reservation

He said that the Geeta Mukherjee Committee of 1996 had recommended ways to go about increasing women's representation in the electoral legislatures, but it met with opposition from the "ruling class parties" then.

"The Communist parties, left parties have always given utmost importance to equality for women. In India, when we discuss women's representation in Parliament and the Assembly, we are compelled to refer to the Geeta Mukherjee Committee report. From ruling class parties, there was stiff opposition and various hurdles to realising women's reservation. Finally, in 2010, the Rajya Sabha passed an amendment, but it couldn't proceed further," Baby told reporters here.

"Based on the amendment the Rajya Sabha has passed in 2010, the same structure could have been followed. Now what is being done is a devious move by the Narendra Modi government to introduce delimitation of constituencies in the garb of women's reservation," he added.

Among seven recommendations, the Geeta Mukherjee Committee had asked the government to consider extending the reservation to OBCs to benefit women from these communities.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) MP John Brittas said that the government must implement the women's quota on the current strength of the Lok Sabha and disconnect from delimitation.

He said that his party would not support the delimitation process for increasing the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies without consultations with stakeholders.

"If the government is sincere about the cause of women's empowerment, let them forthwith implement women's reservation out of the 543 memberships of the Lok Sabha. Let it be disconnected from delimitation, census and all these plethora of qualifications which they want to bring in. We will not support any move to increase the number of Lok Sabha and assemblies without having sufficient consultation with the stakeholders and state governments," Brittas told ANI.

Communist Party of India (CPI) MP P Sandosh said, "We are for women's reservation, but without any conditions. We have 543 seats, and out of these, 1/3 should be given to women. The power vested in the constitution should not be handed to the delimitation commission."

TMC leader Majeed Memon said that the Centre should have held a meeting with the opposition parties before pushing for the delimitation process since the move was "unethical".

"NDA government is stating the Women's Reservation Bill to be a historic step... However, the issue of Delimitation is being opposed by the opposition, and it is justified too because the government should have had a meeting with all the opposition parties before making changes in the constituency. It is an unethical act and is not good for democracy. They should have taken all political parties into confidence as far as the delimitation of each Parliamentary Constituency was concerned, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir," he added. (ANI)