Hyderabad: During the delimitation bill debate, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi moved several amendments.
On his X handle, he stated that his aim was to make the delimitation process free and fair. However, most of his proposed amendments were not allowed.
Key reforms proposed by Asaduddin Owaisi
Owaisi suggested preserving the current proportion of Lok Sabha seats so that northern states do not gain more advantage over southern states.
He also proposed converting women-reserved seats into double-member constituencies. Under this plan, each such constituency would have two MPs, including one woman, to ensure balanced representation.
Another proposal was to reserve 27 percent of seats for OBCs and minority women.
He called for transparency in the functioning of the Delimitation Commission and said it should respond to public concerns.
Owaisi also stressed the need to stop gerrymandering, which means changing constituency boundaries to benefit a particular political party. He said such practices should be clearly prohibited.
He further suggested allowing the Supreme Court of India to review unfair delimitations and order fresh ones if needed.
In addition, he proposed that members nominated to the Delimitation Commission should come from different political parties, not just one.
He also said that the power of delimitation should rest with Parliament instead of the government.
Out of all his proposals, only a few were allowed to be presented in the House for voting.
Bill fails Lok Sabha test
Following the debate, a Constitution amendment bill related to reservation for women in legislatures from 2029 and increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats was defeated in the Lower House.
Out of 528 members who voted, 298 supported the bill, while 230 opposed it. The bill required 352 votes to achieve the required two-thirds majority but failed to reach the mark.
The bill proposed to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Reacting to it, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Constitution amendment bill brought by the government to tweak the women’s quota law was an attack on the Constitution, which the opposition has defeated.
