New Delhi

Political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla on Wednesday criticised the Union Government over the implementation of women's reservation, alleging a lack of seriousness and raising concerns about its linkage with delimitation.

Speaking to ANI, Poonawalla said, "The present Government is absolutely non-serious about bringing in women's reservation. The first time they amended the Constitution was in September 2023. Since that day, I have been saying, why not give 33% reservation on the existing strength of Parliament. You can do it today."

He further argued that the policy need not be tied to processes such as delimitation or census.

"No need of getting into delimitation, no need of getting into the census, no need of trying to change the constituencies and no need of this controversy. Women's reservation should not be a backdoor to do delimitation and take away the power of the southern states and Maharashtra," he said.

Raising concerns about regional representation, Poonawalla added, "My state, Maharashtra, we contribute the most to the country economically. We have followed the Union Govt's guidelines and kept our population under control. Today, we are being punished through this backdoor of women's reservation. This should not happen."

He also called for safeguards to ensure that the benefits of reservation reach common people rather than the relatives of politicians.

"In this women's reservation, make a provision in this Constitutional amendment that this 33% reservation will not be for nepo daughters, sisters, sisters-in-law, wives or girlfriends of politicians. Keep it for the common women, who are politically inclined and want to represent their constituency in Parliament," he said.

This comes as the Opposition parties have expressed their concerns about the proposed delimitation bill, alleging that it will limit the representation of the southern states in the Lok Sabha. Opposition parties have also objected to the government's "rushing" of the bill before the general census.

The Parliament is set to meet on April 16, 17,18 in a special sitting of the budget session to discuss amendments to Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 and a proposed Delimitation Bill to implement the one-third reservation for women legislators.

The Government has planned two major amendments, including a separate Delimitation Bill. Both bills need to be passed as Constitutional amendments.

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The government has proposed increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats to 850 as part of its intention to implement the Women's Reservation Act from the 2029 Lok Sabha polls, with 815 seats proposed to the states and the remaining 35 for the Union Territories, according to sources.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged all political parties to support the proposed amendment bill, expressing confidence that by 2029, women will have stronger representation and greater rights in legislative bodies.