With Parliament set to amend the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam or the Women's Reservation Bill, Indian politics is entering a disruptive phase—in both substance and scale. Delimitation slips into the script as the proverbial cat among pigeons.
By setting the clock back to the 2011 Census for delimitation, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is aiming to maximise political gains without causing heartburn in the southern states over losing relative influence in Parliament.
Parliament had passed the landmark bill to reserve 33 percent seats in legislative bodies in 2023 to grab a women-focussed narrative ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. But the subsequent narrative linked the implementation to the next delimitation. That sent the implementation timeline further away. In an age when distance becomes abstract, the women reservation plot seemingly failed to mine the votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJP now wants the women quota in Parliament to shape the narrative for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. Earlier, implementation was expected only by the 2034 elections. But to play the 2034 game, the BJP must first cross the 2029 hurdle. The 2024 verdict, which denied the party a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha, still haunts the party’s top brass.