‘Mischief, must be opposed’: Chidambaram slams Center’s move to convene Parliament during polling time

New Delhi: Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram on Sunday slammed the Center’s decision to convene the Assembly days ahead of polls for the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal assembly elections.In a social media post, Chidambaram called the Centre’s proposal a “mischief” and claimed that it was aimed at excluding MPs from discussions and votes on key constitutional amendments.“The proposal to convene Parliament from April 16 to 18 is a mischief and must be rejected. Polling is scheduled for April 23 in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal (April 29 in West Bengal),” the veteran leader said.“There are 39 Perikatan Nasional MPs and 28 West China MPs in the opposition seats in the National Assembly. They will be fully involved in their constituency activities from April 16 to 18. If important constitutional amendments are discussed and voted on on these dates, how will these 67 members of the Lok Sabha participate and vote? I suspect this is designed to exclude these MPs,” he added.The budget session of Parliament will reconvene on April 16 and is likely to pass a bill to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 816.The government hopes to introduce at least two bills in this parliamentary session, including a constitutional amendment to reserve one-third of seats for women in the next Lok Sabha polls and subsequent parliamentary elections.The move is expected to change the country’s political landscape and put an authoritative stamp on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-touted women’s empowerment agenda as assembly campaigns in four states gather pace.If the government gets its way, the number of seats in the Lok Sabha will increase by 50% from the existing 543 to 816, with the additional 273 seats reserved for women to ensure that the existing political dynamics and the current members (who are overwhelmingly male) are not diluted by the establishment of a reorganized order. Therefore, the majority score will move to 409.Both houses will reconvene for two to three days to discuss the proposed legislation, news agency PTI reported.Although the ruling NDA itself does not have the strength to ensure the passage of the bill, the government seems keen to push for its passage during the budget session that ends on April 4.The strength of the Lok Sabha is set to increase for the first time in more than five decades. The strength of the Federal Chamber and the state legislative councils will not be affected.