Aaditya Thackeray Criticizes Defeat of Women's Reservation Bill, Calls for Genuine Measures

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday, April 18, said that the passage of the women’s quota bill would have ensured a “total defeat of democracy”, alleging that the legislation, linked with a delimitation exercise, was a political tool designed to reduce the voice of states. Thackeray, in a post on X, claimed that the Bill would have amended the Constitution for the political means of the ruling regime to increase seats, reduce the voice of many states and enable the gerrymandering of constituencies to ensure unfair victories. “The very amendment that would have ensured the total defeat of democracy and the Constitution in India stands rejected by the unity of the Opposition MPs,” he wrote. The legislation should have been called “Delimitation to ensure unfair victory Bill”, the former minister said, adding that there was a genuine need to enable 33 per cent reservation for women in the current number of seats. “Now, it is up to the government to ensure that it is implemented in the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha for the 2029 elections and all elections across India, if that is the real intent of the government,” he wrote. A Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats was defeated on Friday in the Lower House. While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority. According to the Constitution Amendment Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased 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.