Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Special Session of Parliament. Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his reply in the Lok Sabha on the Women Reservation Act 2023 constitutional amendment and Delimitation Bills on Friday launched a scathing attack at the then Prime Minister in 1972 (Indira Gandhi) when she brought a delimitation bill increasing the number of seats from 525 to 545 and then froze them. Later in 1976, during the emergency, the 42nd Amendment was brought which halted the delimitation in order to retain power, he said. Mentioning that the Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha were creating obstacles for early implementation of the women's reservation, the Home Minister said, "At that time too, the principal opposition party had deprived the people of the country of delimitation, and even today, it is the same party that is depriving the nation of it." "If we implement women's reservation based on 543 seats, then 13 seats will get reserved for women, and 26 will remain open in Tamil Nadu. If we implement women's reservation based on the 2011 census, then the number of parliamentary seats will reduce by 6. But we are not doing so. We are increasing seats by 50% for every state," Shah added. Continuing further, the Home Minster said, "Some members here have spread the misconception that reservation will also be given to Muslim women. I want to clarify that the Constitution does not allow reservations based on religion. If the reason to oppose this bill is that there should be 50% reservation, then halt the proceedings for an hour, and I will bring an official amendment to this bill, but first they (opposition) need to promise to pass the bill," he said. "Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Keralam - the strength of these five states in the 543 parliamentary seats is currently 129, which is 23.76%. After a 50% increase, when we allocate the seats for these five states, it will rise from 129 to 195, which will represent 23.87% in 816 seats. No one will be at a loss," Amit Shah added, emphasising there shouldn’t be any north-south divide. Once again taking on the Opposition during his address, Amit Shah said that the women of the country were watching who are creating hurdle in their way. Speaking about the Caste Census, Amit Shah said, "To make sure that there is no confusion in the minds of 140 crore Indians, I want to make it clear that the Narendra Modi Cabinet had decided to hold caste census along with 2026 census. The country should not be divided by this 'north-south' 'east-west' narrative. We should rise above it. All states and UTs have equal rights in this parliament." He argued that the delimitation exercise is the only way to increase the number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, making opposition to it a stand against their interests. "I assure them that if they support us for delimitation, then the value of each vote will have equal value across constituencies," he said. For the Latest news, India News and breaking stories from around the world, visit Times Now for live coverage and in-depth reporting. Shashwat Bhandari is the Associate Editor at Times Now. With 14 years of experience in the news and media industry, he understands the responsibility ... View More