"Political demonetisation under pretext of women's quota": Shashi Tharoor slams Centre's delimitation move

New Delhi [India], April 16 (ANI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday alleged that the Centre's proposed delimitation exercise was aimed at strengthening regions where the ruling party is politically strong, calling the move a "political demonetisation" carried out under the pretext of women's reservation.
Speaking to reporters, Tharoor said the government appeared to have a plan to redraw constituencies in a manner that alters political balance across regions.

"The issue is very simple. The govt has a plan to re-delimit the constituencies to increase the number of seats in the areas where the ruling party is strong. They are using women's reservation to bring about that change. This is political demonetisation," he said.
He further alleged that the exercise would weaken representation in regions where the ruling party has less support.
"They are trying to reduce the value of the parts of the country where they are weak and strengthen the parts of the country where they are strong," he added.
Tharoor said that if the intention was genuinely to ensure women's empowerment, the government could implement reservation immediately.
"If genuinely this is about Nari Shakti, then pass Nari Shakti today. We will all support it. We can have reservations for women in this Parliament from the very next election," he said.
He also stressed the need for wider consultations on delimitation, including views of states with varying population growth rates and economic contributions.
"There has to be a full examination of the point of view of all the states," he said.
Meanwhile, speaking to ANI, Congress MP Rajeev Shukla also said opposition parties support women's reservation but object to linking it with delimitation.
"All opposition parties have collectively decided that we are in support of women's reservation. We stand with the proposal that was passed in 2023, but through delimitation, they want to scatter all sections and damage the constitutional framework, and we oppose that," he said.
Echoing similar concerns, Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan said the opposition had supported the implementation of women's reservation earlier without delay.
"The entire opposition was in support of women's reservation back in 2023 itself. No opposition party has any objection to women's reservation. We wanted that in 2024, reservations for women should be given on all 543 seats... After 30 months, they're now saying they'll provide reservations after delimitation based on the 2011 census. Even today, the BJP's intentions are not right; even today, they've put a spanner in the works on delimitation," she told ANI.
She also questioned the decision to introduce three Bills together, stating that reservation could have been implemented earlier. "Why did you bring all 3 bills together? Based on 2011, it could have been done in 2024 itself," she said.
The Delimitation Bill, 2026, along with the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday after the Opposition pressed for a division against the move to introduce three bills, instead of a voice vote.
The Opposition members in the Lok Sabha had pressed for a division against the move to introduce the bill. As per the final division, there were a total of 251 AYES and 185 NOES out of the total 333 votes.
With the 251 AYES majority, all three bills, including the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Delimitation Bill, 2026, were introduced in the Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, the government has convened a special sitting of Parliament from today to April 18 to pass the amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
The government has been seeking opposition support for passing the amendment bill to implement the women's reservation bill from the 2029 Lok Sabha polls on the basis of the 2011 census. (ANI)