The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023 has been unanimously passed by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The bill seeks to reserve one-third of the total number of seats in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women. Although the Modi government is not facing the number barrier like previous governments, almost all parties across the political spectrum extended their support to the bill but with some riders. Some regional parties changed their positioning and surprisingly lent their support to the 33 per cent quota for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
The bill finally reached its final destination after 27 years of being introduced by the H D Deve Gowda government in 1996. The provisions in the bill make it clear that the women’s reservation will come into effect only after the delimitation exercise or the redrawing of constituencies taking into account the data of the census conducted once the bill becomes a law. After the passage of the Bill by both Houses of Parliament, it will also have to be approved by at least 50 per cent of state assemblies to become a law. The nod by the state assemblies is necessary as it affects the rights of the states.
The bill which got a life after 13-year, saw a few new supporters and some of them were among those who vehemently opposed the bill in the Lok Sabha in 2010 and did not allow it to be passed in the Lower House during the UPA regime. Regional parties like- then Mulayam Singh-led Samajwadi Party, Sharad Yadav-led JD-U and Lalu Prasad Yadav-headed Rashtriya Janata Dal were the top critics of the bill. These leaders staged protests when the Manmohan Singh government tried to get the bill passed in the Lower House in 2010.
Now, after 13 years in the changed political scenario, all political parties virtually accepted it and understood that they couldn’t electorally afford to ignore women’s representation in the parliament and assemblies. In the last two decades, women have been actively involved in the election process and emerged as a decisive factor in determining which party will win the election. A change of heart by some parties is not a coincidence but a tested strategy to woo women voters.
The success of Nitish Kumar one after another election in Bihar is a testimony to the fact that women voters play a key role in deciding the fate of a politician. Meanwhile, all the political parties started posting their old statements on social media to claim credit as election season has just started and four key states will go to election this year. It is difficult to decode which party will get how much benefit in the coming elections after the passage of the bill in the parliament but one thing is sure it will have a major impact on the results of the elections.
