India, April 18 -- A day after the BJP-led NDA government's Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill failed the Parliament test - it sought to hasten the implementation of 33% women's quota in legislatures - Tamil Nadu's ruling party DMK proposed a private member's bill instead, delinking the reservation from any change in the total number and boundaries of constituencies.

The DMK bill proposed to implement the 33% reservation from the very next election, on the existing 543-seat Lok Sabha, without any seat-increase, delimitation, or census data new or old.

The bill, by DMK MP Wilson, is any Opposition party's most direct legislative response so far to the BJP's charge that rival parties blocked women's reservation altogether.

But both Hous...