Mangaluru: Whether BJP will go back to the 1971 Census delimitation for 33% women’s reservation is something that the “leadership” will discuss, said Dakshina Kannada MP Capt Brijesh Chowta on Monday.Chowta was responding to a query on whether the BJP will make an amendment to its 2023 Bill to give the 33% reservation based on existing seats, a demand that the Congress has held on to.Defending the ruling BJP’s stand, Chowta told reporters that the Congress could have sought an amendment through the right legislative process when the Bill was passed in 2023. “The latest census was the prerequisite of the Bill. They said it comes too close to elections for it to be implemented. Now, they are scared where their families and seats would go,” he said.He called the opposition’s argument that South Indian states stand to lose a “myth”. “The (central) govt says we will maintain the percentage of seats in the new House, with facts and figures shown,” Chowta added.He also chided the opposition for perhaps not having enough women candidates, while existing members also remain worried about their seats if the reservation does happen.He juxtaposed the BJP having Nirmala Sitharaman as defence and finance minister against “Congress’ anti-women history”.Expressing confidence in the upcoming Tamil Nadu election, Chowta said that BJP won the 2024 elections based on the Congress’ delimitation. He added that if the delimitation took place after the 2027 Census, the South Indian states would lose out more. He, however, maintained that the 2011 Census-based delimitation would not disadvantage the Southern states.When asked how the additional seats would be accommodated in parliamentary discussions, considering the present number of members themselves do not get a chance to speak in the House, Chowta said the technicalities of that would be worked out.
