Congress Demands All-Party Meet to Discuss Implementation of Women’s Reservation Bill
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 28: With the campaigning closed for the current round of Assembly elections in four states and a union territory, the political fight over the women’s reservation bill is back in the circulation.
The Congress, like other opposition parties had claimed to be in support of 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies but opposed linking it with delimitation of the constituencies, on Tuesday sharpened its attack on the BJP-led Centre on the issue and called for an all-party meet to evolve a consensus roadmap for implementing the measure at the earliest.
The party general secretary and in-charge of communication Jairam Ramesh in a post on X while urging the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an all-party meet said with the election campaign now over, the government should act on the Opposition’s demand — raised consistently since mid-March — for consultations on operationalising the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, which provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures.
In his post Mr Ramesh called for the implementation of reservation for women’s reservation with the existing 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, reiterating an opposition to the delimitation exercise.
He alleged that the government’s attempt to push through a “diabolical delimitation” exercise had “failed miserably” due to “Opposition unity and solidarity,” and said the focus must now shift to ensuring the women’s quota is implemented.
“An all-party meeting should be convened to discuss how the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, (that was finally notified in panic only in the late hours of April 16 2026) can be put into effect with the existing strength of the Lok Sabha from 2029 onwards. It is possible. It is desirable. It is essential,” Mr Ramesh said.
The Congress leader further contended that women’s reservation “was never the issue” during the special session of Parliament, maintaining that the government’s primary objective had been delimitation. “It is now time for the PM to make amends for his sins of using India’s women to drive through his personal political agenda and to instead deliver justice to them,” Mr Ramesh said.
“Women’s reservation was never the issue during the special session of Parliament. The agenda then was only delimitation for the PM’s political preservation. It is now time for the PM to make amends for his sins of using India’s women to drive through his personal political agenda – and to instead deliver justice to them,” the X post read.
The Centre has maintained that the implementation of the law was linked to the next delimitation exercise and the conduct of a Census, a position the Opposition has continued to contest.
On April 17, in the division that took place on the Constitution Amendment Bill, 298 members voted in favour and 230 against. With the Constitution Amendment Bill defeated, the government later said it did not want to pursue the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, which were taken up together for discussion.
The Bills aimed to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha from 543 to 816, with 33 per cent reservation for women. The delimitation was to be carried out based on the 2011 census. Opposition parties had expressed support for women’s reservation but were against the Delimitation Bill. They had called upon the government to implement the women’s reservation in the existing strength of the Lok Sabha and carry out the delimitation exercise after the 2027 census operation while giving due weightage to the southern states for successful implementation of the population control measures.
