India, April 18 -- A day after the BJP-led NDA government's Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill failed the Parliament test - it sought to tweak the implementation timeline of the 33% women's quota in legislatures with a delimitation - Tamil Nadu's ruling party Dravida DMK proposed a private member's bill instead. This bill proposes to implement the 33% reservation from the very next election, on the existing 543-seat Lok Sabha, without any seat-increase, delimitation, or census.

The bill, by DMK MP Wilson, is so far any Opposition party's most direct legislative response to the BJP's charge that rival parties blocked women's reservation altogether. The quota was passed with almost all-party support in 2023; the question was over "hasty" ...