Women’s federation challenges delimitation clause of Women’s Reservation Act in SC

NEW DELHI: The National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) has challenged the clause that provides for the delimitation of constituencies as a prerequisite for implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act.

The matter was listed before a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, which on Thursday, tagged the matter with another petition related to the issue.

The NFIW, in the plea, moved through advocate Prashant Bhushan and Ria Yadav, sought to challenge the constitutional validity of Article 334A (1) or Clause 5 of the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023 in so far as it renders delimitation of constituencies a prerequisite to the implementation of the Act.

The petitioner, National Federation of Indian Women, a women’s organization, was established in 1954 with the aim of securing women’s rights. Social activist Annie Raja is the general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women. Their petition said that the said clause is arbitrary, unequal and violative of Articles 14 and 15.

“That conducting a delimitation exercise should not be and has never been a requirement for the implementation of reservations in Lok Sabha or state legislatures. There are several instances of reservations for certain classes where no such delimitation clause was introduced and having delimitation as a prerequisite to only women’s reservations and not for reservations for SC/STs/Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and State Legislature Assembly is violative of the Articles 14 and 15, the Equality Code and consequently of the basic structure doctrine”, the petition said.

The petitioner urged the top court to issue a direction declaring “Article 334A (1) or Clause 5 of the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023 as unconstitutional.

The ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhniyam’, which provides 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha as well as the state legislative assemblies, was unanimously passed by the Rajya Sabha, becoming the first bill to be passed in the new Parliament building. (ANI)