Congress Criticizes Government's 'Factually Abused Quackery' Over Women's Reservation Bill

The Indian Congress party criticized the government's FAQs on women's reservation in legislatures, describing them as 'Factually Abused Quackery'. This accusation follows the defeat of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which proposed increasing Lok Sabha seats to 816. The bill was defeated due to insufficient votes for a constitutional amendment.

The Congress party has taken a jab at the government's recent release of FAQs concerning women's reservation in legislatures, branding it as 'Factually Abused Quackery'. This comes in the wake of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill's defeat, aimed at implementing a 33% reservation for women in legislatures by 2029.

Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, described the FAQs as a 'damage control exercise' by the Modi administration after the bill failed to pass the Lok Sabha. Ramesh criticized the FAQs for not addressing key opposition questions, particularly about seat delimitation.

The controversial bill proposed increasing Lok Sabha seats to 816, and state and UT assembly seats, following a delimitation based on the 2011 Census. However, with only 298 members voting in favor and 230 against, it fell short of the 352 votes needed for a two-thirds majority to amend the constitution.

(With inputs from agencies.)