India: Modi plan for women's quota in parliament fails vote

A landmark constitutional amendment to reserve one-third of parliamentary seats for women fails, with opponents calling it a political power grab. | Contesto: cronaca

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• India: Modi plan for women's quota in parliament fails vote

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NEW DELHI — A sweeping government proposal to amend India's constitution and reserve 33% of seats in the national parliament for women was defeated in a parliamentary vote on Tuesday, collapsing under the weight of fierce opposition accusations that it was a cynical maneuver to consolidate political power. The bill, championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration, also included a controversial provision to expand the total number of seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house, by hundreds—a move critics argued was designed to disproportionately benefit the ruling party. The failure of the Women's Reservation Bill marks a significant setback for a decades-long campaign to mandate gender parity in India's highest legislative body. Proponents have long argued that such a quota is essential to address the severe underrepresentation of women in Indian politics, where they currently hold just over 14% of seats in the Lok Sabha. The proposed constitutional amendment was seen as a historic opportunity to structurally alter the political landscape and empower female lawmakers on a scale unmatched since independence. However, the legislative effort unraveled amid a storm of political controversy. Multiple opposition parties united to block the bill, not on the principle of women's representation itself, but on the specific mechanics and timing of the government's proposal. The core of their objection centered on the simultaneous plan to dramatically increase the total number of parliamentary constituencies. Opponents contended that redrawing the electoral map and adding hundreds of new seats under the current administration would allow the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to gerrymander boundaries and secure an unfair, long-term advantage, effectively using the popular cause of women's empowerment as a veil for political expansion. The debate laid bare deep-seated tensions within India's parliamentary democracy. Government spokespersons had framed the dual proposal as a necessary modernization of a legislature whose size has been largely frozen for decades, arguing that a larger, more gender-balanced house would better reflect India's growing population and...

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Categoria: cronaca