BENGALURU: When Karnataka goes to polls to elect panchayat members on May 29, there will be a strange affirmative action in place: Half the seats would be reserved for men. Congress V-P Rahul Gandhi has been rooting for women empowerment, but in a Congress-ruled state an amendment was made to the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act on March 31 to ensure that 50% of the seats are effectively reserved for men.The women’s empowerment movement got a fillip in Karnataka in 1993 when 50% reservation for women in panchayat bodies came into effect. Gram panchayats in some districts like Dakshina Kannada have 85% seats occupied by women, as they win from both reserved and general seats.“That has become a problem and the amendment seeks to address it. We wanted women to get 50% representation and not more than that,” Karnataka’s panchayat raj minister HK Patil told ET. The amendment changes the original phrase, which said “not less than 50%” seats are reserved for women to “subject to an overall limit of one half rounding off to the next number”. “This means that women cannot win more than 50% seats in a gram panchayat. This goes against the process of women empowerment,” Gram Panchayat Hakkottaya Andolana convenor Nandana Reddy told ET. Women gram panchayat representatives that ET spoke to expressed disappointment at this move.