Delimitation and women’s reservation: Beyond the obvious

Amid ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, a new political flashpoint has emerged in India.

The Modi government’s unexpected move to tie together 33% reservation for women and delimitation of Lok Sabha seats based on the 2011 Census has ignited a fresh political clash between the ruling and opposition fronts.

As expected, the constitutional amendment failed in Parliament, as it did not secure the required two-thirds majority. Opposition parties, which have declared their readiness to reserve 33 per cent of the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats, vehemently opposed the amendment because of the delimitation clause. They described it as a devious attempt by the ruling government to push its delimitation agenda under the guise of women’s reservation.

In his special address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the INDIA bloc of committing ‘female foeticide’ by defeating the Women’s Reservation Bill.

What has happened now is nothing short of a tragedy: women’s rightful place in the legislatures of the world’s largest democracy is being held hostage to a half-century-old federal fault line.

Beyond the golden beginning
Indian women have had something of a ‘dream start’ in the democratic process since independence.

It was no small achievement that Indian women voted in the first general elections held in 1951. When Indian women first queued up to cast their votes, universal adult franchise had not yet been implemented in many Western countries.

In Greece, where democracy took root in the 5th century BC, women gained the right to vote only in 1952. In Switzerland, where forms of direct democracy exist, this occurred in 1971.

Moreover, India had an elected female prime minister at a time when all Western countries – and much of the rest of the world – had to wait years or even decades for the same.

However, the early record of electoral participation has not translated into adequate representation of women in legislative bodies. In the 2024 elections, women accounted for only 14 percent of Lok Sabha members.

Seventy-five years of electoral democracy have ensured meaningful representation for women mainly at the grassroots level in Panchayati Raj institutions – and even this has been possible only through women’s reservation.

Beyond representation
Contrary to common perception, the question of women’s reservation is not merely one of gender justice, that is, ensuring greater parliamentary representation for half the country’s population.

According to UN Women, the leading organization promoting gender equality, research shows that having more women in leadership roles can improve governance and policy making.

The United Nations has underscored this by citing examples from various countries, including India, where women-led panchayats have initiated more basic or social infrastructure projects – such as drinking water schemes – than their male-led counterparts. Similarly, in Norway, the presence of women in municipal bodies has been found to ensure better childcare coverage.

Interestingly, ample research from the corporate sector suggests that greater representation of women in top positions offers distinct advantages. For instance, a 2023 study of OECD countries found that increasing the proportion of women in senior management had a positive effect on productivity.

All this suggests that greater representation of women in Parliament and state legislative assemblies could enhance governance by better reflecting society, an outcome India desperately needs.

However, clubbing women’s reservation with the more complex issue of delimitation based on the 2011 Census has effectively stalled the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023, which was passed in Parliament with Opposition support.

Beyond seats
The central point of contention in delimitation is the seat factor: any significant increase in Lok Sabha seats could render the southern states ‘electorally insignificant.

The widespread apprehension is that southern states, which have maintained a fairly strong track record in population control compared to their northern counterparts, will be penalised with fewer members in the Indian Parliament. This decades-old problem has underpinned the continued extension of the 1976 freeze on Lok Sabha seats at 543, based on the 1971 Census.

In fact, the population-seats conundrum is merely the tip of the iceberg; the deeper issues related to the North–South divide are far more complex and fundamental.

India’s impressive growth story since the liberalisation era is overly dependent on five states – Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh – which together account for around 30 percent of the country’s GDP. However, despite being major contributors to GST, these southern states receive relatively lower tax revenue allocations from the Central Government.

In recent years, southern states have increasingly locked horns with the Centre, as disparities in financial allocations spill over into new domains. Perhaps the clearest illustration lies in the Centre’s discriminatory approach to allocating relief for climate change–induced calamities. What makes these crises particularly complex is that the heightened vulnerability of southern states to events such as urban flash floods is partly driven by their own rapid economic growth, which contributes significantly to the national exchequer. (The authors elaborate on this argument in their article, ‘Climate Change Deepens India’s North–South Divide,’ published in Down To Earth and The Wire on 7 June 2024.)

It is therefore unsurprising that the Modi government’s decision to link women’s reservation with delimitation from the 2029 general elections has reignited North–South political tensions, leaving little room for meaningful debate on women’s role in legislative bodies. Even some of the most articulate politicians from southern India have joined this chorus of charged rhetoric.

“This is being the greatest insult and greatest slap to the notion of Union of States, federal society that is envisioned by the constitutional fathers. This is completely going to change the dynamic and the relationship between the Southern States and the Union and it is going to breach the trust that has been built over seventy five years”, said Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Tamil Nadu Minister and a prominent advocate of cooperative federalism in India.

Describing the Modi government’s move as a ‘political demonetisation’, Shashi Tharoor pointed to alternative models such as the equal representation of states in the United States Senate and the principle of degressive proportionality in the European Union, where smaller nations are guaranteed minimum representation while larger ones face a ceiling – ensuring that no single country dominates the Union.

Questions that matter
Must Indian women – who played a crucial role in the country’s freedom struggle and its subsequent development – navigate a highly contentious issue such as delimitation to secure a dignified presence in the House of the People? The real question is whether the government will demonstrate its commitment by reserving 33 per cent of the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats for women.

How long will Indian women remain ‘reserved’?