Hyderabad: Telangana Jagruthi president Kavitha Kalvakuntla on Thursday said that delimitation should be linked with an OBC sub-quota instead of the Women’s Reservation Bill so that OBC women can get their rightful share of representation.
She highlighted that the representation of Telangana is 3.13 per cent in the parliament, and the delimitation will further widen the gap. “The 3.13 per cent is Telangana’s share in the parliament as of date. That should be treated as a baseline during the delimitation exercise. The proportional representation of Telangana should only increase and not decrease in any case.”
“A blanket 50 per cent increase that is being proposed right now looks okay on the face of it, but when you look at the absolute numbers, the gap will increase. People of Telangana will hit the streets; our share of 3.13 per cent is diluted in any way,” she said.
“Secondly, it is highly unfortunate that delimitation is being linked to the Women’s Reservation Bill. Rather, it should be linked with an OBC sub-quota within the 33 per cent. OBC Women should get their rightful share of representation at any cost,’ she added.
Kavitha departed for Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, to offer prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple, ahead of the scheduled launch of her political party ‘Telangana Jagruthi ‘ on April 25. Her remarks come as the Central government has proposed increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats to 850 as part of its intention to implement the Women’s Reservation Act from 2029 Lok Sabha polls, with 815 seats proposed to the states and the remaining 35 for the Union Territories, according to sources.
The Lok Sabha has 543 seats at present. The government intends to move a Constitution amendment bill for the implementation of a 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha from 2029 in a special sitting of parliament on April 16, 17, and 18.