'If we reserve Wayanad or Hyderabad...': Amit Shah on delimitation need for Women's Quota Bill

This was the first time the bill, designed to provide 33 percent reservation to women in Parliament and state assemblies, was introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha.

The implementation of the quota, though, can take place only after a census and delimitation, which pushes it back by at least six years.

The Delimitation Commission is the only body that can take a call on which seats to reserve, he said, indicating that census data is the bedrock on which such decisions are taken.

Amid the allegations of delay, Amit Shah has said that both delimitation and census will begin after next year's general election.

"The Delimitation Commission is an important body for the poll process in the country," Shah said during the debate on the bill in the special session of Parliament.

"If we are reserving one-third seats, then who will do it? If we do it, you will question it... If we reserve Wayanad or Hyderabad, you will say it is political," said the minister, addressing the Lok Sabha just after Congress's Rahul Gandhi, who had questioned why the government needs new census and new delimitation to implement quota for women.

"Wayanad" was a dig at Rahul Gandhi, an MP from the Kerala seat in Parliament.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi supported the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha but said it was "incomplete" without a quota for OBC representatives.

Presenting his views on the bill, Rahul said the bill can be implemented today itself by allocating 33 percent of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha seats to women.

On the issues of Census and delimitation which will be carried out before implementation of the bill, Rahul said these two things seemed “strange” to him.

“There are two things that seem strange to me. One is the idea that you require a new Census to implement this bill, and the second is that you require a new delimitation to implement this bill,” the Congress MP said.

Shah also took on Rahul Gandhi's comment that the bill in its current form is "incomplete" and that he wants OBC reservation included.

"Some people think secretaries run the country, I think the government does; 85 BJP MPs, 29 ministers are from Other Backward Classes," Shah said.

"Also, some people on social media are forming opinions, saying they don't support the bill because there is no OBC, or Muslim reservation and it needs delimitation. Even if you don't support it, it won't come before 2029, at least begin the process," he said.

The lower house of the Parliament passed the bill through a voice vote in its new building during the five-day special session called on the occasion of 75 years of Indian Independence.

The bill received the support of 454 MPs while only two members voted against it.

The Women's Reservation Bill will be presented in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, which is the penultimate day of the special session.