Implement women’s quota immediately, pause delimitation issue temporarily: Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai, April 16 (IANS) Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said that the Women’s Reservation Bill, which was already passed by the Parliament in 2023, should be implemented immediately, while suggesting that a temporary pause must be applied to the delimitation (reorganisation of electoral constituencies) issue. 

"This is an important matter for broader national unity. For us, this is not about any one party’s political future but about the future of the country. Therefore, more discussion and deliberation on it is necessary!" Thackeray said in a statement.

The Thackeray camp highlighted that Maharashtra was the first state in India to grant 33 per cent (later 50 per cent) reservation to women in local self-government bodies under the leadership of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and earlier governments. 

Thackeray clarified that his party is not against the 33 per cent quota in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, as Shiv Sena-UBT MPs voted in favour of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam when it was first introduced in 2023.

His primary point of contention is the government's move to link the reservation to a new delimitation exercise (redrawing of constituency boundaries) without first conducting a formal national census. 

Shiv Sena-UBT MP Sanjay Raut described the delimitation process as a "dangerous game" played under the guise of women's empowerment. "The party fears that redrawing seats based on old or estimated population data could unfairly reduce the political weight of states like Maharashtra and those in South India," he noted.

Ray further stated that if the government were serious, the reservation would have been implemented immediately in the 2024 elections rather than being pushed toward 2029. The Shiv Sena-UBT has raised logistical questions about the proposed expansion of legislative bodies. For instance, if the Maharashtra Assembly grows from 288 to 400 seats to accommodate the quota and delimitation, they argue that the current infrastructure, like the Vidhan Bhavan, is not equipped to handle the increase.

Along with other members of the INDIA bloc, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-UBT maintains that delimitation should not penalise states that have successfully implemented population control measures.

"We support the reservation for our mothers and sisters, but we will not allow it to be used as a political tool to redraw the map of India without a transparent Census,” said Raut.

--IANS

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