Prime Minister: Women should ensure quota bill passes without opposition

New Delhi: Commenting for the first time on the government’s move to implement women’s reservation law in the next Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked women to put pressure on the opposition to ensure that the relevant bill is passed unopposed in Parliament while dismissing as a lie the accusation that southern states will fail in delimitation due to success in controlling population.Addressing an election rally in Thiruvalla, Kerala, he said the budget session of Parliament will reconvene for three days from April 16 for three days to implement the law framed by his government regarding 33 per cent quota for women in Lok Sabha and Parliament from the 2029 LS polls. Modi also confirmed the delimitation exercise to increase the number of legislative seats equal to those reserved for women.PM Modi said: “People are spreading the lie that where the population decreases, there will be fewer seats. We want Parliament to sign a law ensuring that there is no reduction in Lok Sabha seats for Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa or Telangana. “The Prime Minister acknowledged the good job they have done in controlling the population.Modi said the government’s proposal is to increase the number of seats in the legislative body by about 50% and the number of LS constituencies will be increased from the current 543 to 816 so that the additional seats will be allocated exclusively to women, but he did not disclose specific figures.“You should tell MPs and LDF members that these laws should be passed without opposition… Women should put pressure on all political parties,” he told voters in CPM-led LDF-ruled Kerala. “I also appeal to them that this right of our mothers and sisters has been pending for 40 years. It should not continue to be so in the 2029 polls,” he said.Modi noted that his government had convened a meeting of Parliament on the issue and had spoken to parties from the opposition India Bloc. While some opposition parties participated in the meeting led by Home Minister Amit Shah, the Congress, TMC and Left shunned it.The Congress and the Left have called for an all-party meeting, but this is unlikely as Parliament is scheduled to meet in mid-month, a week before assembly polls in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.Kerala will go to polls on April 9, bjp It is believed that its move to implement women’s quotas will help deepen its appeal to female voters in the three states, which have been strongholds of the opposition party.