New Delhi: Fears that the current delimitation exercise would be aborted on the issue of the Women's Reservation Bill were set at rest on Friday with an all-party meeting asking the government to hold the 2009 general election on the basis of redrawn constituencies.
The meeting also favoured delinking the delimitation exercise from the women's bill, which is expected to be introduced in the coming session of Parliament next month.
"By and large, the consensus of the meeting was that the Delimitation Commission's work should continue and be completed on time," Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after a two-hour meeting which saw the Trinamool Congress striking a discordant note on delimitation.
Trinamool Congress, a known rival of Left parties in Marxist-dominated West Bengal, claimed that no consensus was arrived at as the delimitation exercise would automatically become infructuous if a decision is taken to increase seats in state assemblies and Parliament to provide reservation for women.
The meeting, also attended by several Union ministers, including Shivraj Patil and H R Bhardwaj, felt that the Women's Reservation Bill should be delinked from the current exercise of delimitation.
After the introduction of the bill in its original form, the government is likely to hold further consultations with political parties for arriving at a consensus amid signals that it will be an uphill task to achieve unanimity on the controversial measure.
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