In a recent public address, actor Kangana Ranaut claimed that she received the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) ticket to contest elections from the Mandi constituency in Himachal Pradesh because of the Women's Reservation Bill.
BOOM found that the claim was false since the bill has not been brought into effect yet.
On March 24, 2024, the BJP announced Kangana Ranaut as the party's candidate to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi. "I abide by the high command’s decision on contesting Loksabha polls," she wrote on X while adding that she looks forward to being a "worthy Karyakarta and a reliable public servant."
During a recent public address in Mandi's Balh village, Ranaut spoke about how she was granted the BJP ticket due to the Women's Reservation Bill. "The Women's Reservation Bill, that grants 30% reservation to women (in the Lok Sabha) is the reason why I have this stage today. Because of that, your daughter from Mandi has this stage."
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the claims are false and the Women's Reservation Bill has not been implemented yet and will not be done so at least until 2029.
The Women's Reservation Bill, also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, seeks to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and legislative state assemblies for women. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on September 20, 2023, 27 years after it was first introduced in the parliament.
On September 22, the Rajya Sabha, too, passed the Bill unanimously. Having been passed in both houses of the parliament, the bill now needed the President's assent, which was given on September 28. This meant that the bill fulfilled all requirements to become a law.
However, this bill would be brought into effect only after the census and delimitation exercises were complete. A delimitation exercise involves allotting the number of seats as well as boundaries of territorial constituencies across the country for Lok Sabha and state elections. This exercise is set to take place on the basis of the census released after 2026. The centre has not yet concluded the 2021 census due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This essentially means that the bill will come into effect after the delimitation exercise, which will in turn begin after the release of the latest census.
While speaking in the Lok Sabha on September 20, 2023, Home Minister Amit Shah said that the delimitation exercise would be conducted only after the 2024 general elections, and it would be at least until 2029 that the Women's Reservation Bill is implemented.
Several opposition leaders at the time had criticised this method used to implement the Women's Reservation bill. AAP leader Atishi had said, "Why have the provisions of delimitation and Census been included? This means that women’s reservation won’t be implemented ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. We demand that the provisions of delimitation and Census be done away with and the women’s reservation be implemented for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls."
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Kanimozhi had said that the reservation could be easily extended for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “Stop this tokenism. This bill is called Nari Shakti Vandhan Bill. Stop saluting us. We don't want to be saluted, put on a pedestal, or worshipped. We want to be respected as equals,” she added.