New Delhi: Claiming that seats of all states will be doubled, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday said in the Lok Sabha that the total seats will be upped to 815, of which 272 will be kept reserved for women.
The Centre tabled three key bills in the Lok Sabha on Thursday during the special sessions. These bills are on reservation for women in the parliament, delimitation and laws for union territories. A special session of the Parliament has been convened for the next three days. This special session comes as an extension of the Budget Session.
The constitutional amendment bill and Delimitation bill was tabled by law minister Meghwal. Union home minister Amit Shah introduced the union territories law amendment bill.
PM Narendra Modi is also expected to address the Lok Sabha at 3pm on Thursday. Voting on the bills will take place around 4pm on Friday.
Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi questioned Centre’s intention of increasing the women’s reservation in Lok Sabha by connecting it with delimitation. He asked how did the BJP come up with a number 850 as they intend to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats. He asked if it came from Nagpur.
‘We support women’s reservation, but remove it from delimitation net’
“We are again saying we support women’s reservation, but remove it from the delimitation net. Make it easier. Don’t use women’s reservation for political gains,” Gogoi said.
“As Rahul Gandhi has said that we are a union of states. You can’t reduce the strength of states based on population. Hence, we demand discussion on delimitation,” the Congress leader added.
Meanwhile, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party said they had asked for the details of the delimitation in writing. If there was 50% increase then the party would support the bill, otherwise it won’t.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced on Thursday that discussions on these bills will take place over 15 to 18 hours. Voting has been scheduled for 4 pm on Friday, he added.
