[Marxistindia] Women's Reservation and Delimitation: Hold Wider Consultations

[news from the cpi(m)]

April 10, 2026

Press Statement

 

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the
following statement:

 

Women's Reservation and Delimitation: Hold Wider Consultations

 

The CPI(M) has been and is committed to a mandatory reservation of one third
seats for women in Parliament and State Assemblies. This is why in 2023,
despite our opposition to the linking of women's reservation to the census
and delimitation as proposed in the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam we
supported the passage of the Bill as also the 108th Amendment to the
Constitution for reservation of one third seats for women. Even at that time
we had said that the linkage will mean such a delay that women will be
denied their right to one third seats not only in the 2024 elections but
also in the 2029 elections. 

 

Now after two years where neither a Delimitation Commission has been set up
nor the Census started as promised, the Modi government has come up with new
proposals once again without any discussions with the opposition parties
despite the repeated demand for an all-party meeting. It is highly
objectionable and unacceptable that such a proposal is being made at a time
of state assembly elections geared to a narrow political aim of electoral
benefit. 

 

The proposal itself makes a fresh link of women's reservation to another
aim, namely an increase in the number of seats in Parliament and in
Assemblies through a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 census. This
raises many issues which cannot be pushed through and requires discussion
and consultation with all states. 

 

The CPI(M) demands that the proposals be postponed to enable wider
discussions and consultations with all political parties and states
regarding the implication of the increase in seats. We reiterate that
women's reservation can be implemented from the 2029 General Election in the
given framework which will require an amendment to delink women's
reservations from the Census and delimitation. But clearly the Modi
government lacks the required political will to do so.

 

Muralidharan

For CPI(M) Central Committee Office

 

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