Listen to this article:

India stands at a peculiar moment in its democratic journey. Parliament has spoken decisively in favour of reserving one-third of seats for women. Yet, the implementation of that promise remains deferred – contingent on a future census and subsequent delimitation, both politically sensitive and administratively uncertain.

In effect, a constitutional commitment has been made, but its realisation has been postponed.

The debate that has followed is not without merit. Political parties worry about the displacement of sitting members. States are apprehensive about losing relative representation in a future delimitation. Legal experts point to the complexities of redrawing constituencies and the risks of implementing reservation on an outdated (2011 Census) electoral map. Each of these concerns is valid – within the architecture of the current law.

But the real question is this: must India remain confined within that architecture?

A constitutional workaround that changes nothing – and everything

There exists a constitutionally sound, administratively simple and politically neutral solution that can deliver women’s reservation immediately – within the life of the current Lok Sabha – without waiting for Census, without triggering delimitation, and without displacing a single Member of Parliament.

The solution is to introduce a limited, supplementary layer of proportional representation.

Parliament can, through a focused constitutional amendment, increase the strength of the Lok Sabha by adding approximately 273 seats, as already decided by the Cabinet, and allocate these seats to political parties in proportion to their vote share in the 2024 general election. These additional seats can be reserved entirely for women.

This may sound radical but it is not an overturning of the electoral system. The existing first-past-the-post framework remains intact. All currently elected MPs continue to represent their constituencies. What is added is a compensatory layer that reflects the actual distribution of votes across the country.

What the numbers reveal

To understand the practicality of this proposal, consider the 2024 general election. Based on officially reported........

© The Wire