India, April 8 -- An all-party consensus marked the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in Parliament in 2023. The Act reserves 33% of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women. A special sitting of Parliament is due this month to fast-track its implementation. But the candidates' lists of major political parties in the four states and one Union territory going to the polls this month tell a different story: None of the main parties in the fray - the BJP, Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, AIADMK, CPM, CPI, and Muslim League, among others - meet the 33% quota, or even 20%. The gap smacks of doublespeak. It is disturbing that parties will adhere to priciples of representation only if forced by the law. The excuse given is that the choice of candidates is determined by non-gender factors such as merit, caste, faith and a word that has found its way into the political lexicon in recent years, winnability. When the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 mandated a minimum of 33% reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), many male leaders lamented that there were not enough women candidates cut for electoral politics. By 2023, 21 states had increased the women's quota to 50%. And many of the women leaders have turned out to be sensitive and efficient administrators. Despite this pool of experienced hands, political parties, including those headed by women, have refused to field more women in state and general elections. In the 2022 UP assembly polls, the Congress reserved 40% of seats for women, but it made no difference, as the party exists more in memory than on the ground in that state. Rahul Gandhi has spoken in Kerala about a woman chief minister, conveniently ignoring that women's share in the party's list of candidates was just about 10% (9 out of 92). The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam will bring about change, for sure - but the reluctance of political parties to be the agents of change rankles....