SAD Supports Delimitation Bill Linked with Women’s Reservation as Rahul – Rijiju Spar over It

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Aug 8: Even as the Narendra Modi government cornered more support for the women’s reservation bill with the Shiromani Akali Dal on Saturday publicly announced its support to the Delimitation Bill and the implementation of the Women’s Reservation bill, the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi sparred over the implementation of the women’s quota questioning the government’s decision to link it with delimitation excise.

The exchange on the social media platform X began after Mr Gandhi posted a video speaking of harnessing the “energy” of India’s women and freeing them from patriarchy. Mr Rijiju responded by describing it as a “positive message” and said there was a “visible change of heart” in Mr Gandhi. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister challenged the Congress to support the Women’s Reservation Bill “unconditionally” while the Congress leader in response pointed out that with the support of his party the bill was passed three years ago and questioned why it was not implemented all these years.

The Shiromani Akali Dal, a day after its president Sukhbir Singh Badal met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi sparking a buzz of a possible reunion between the SAD and the BJP, declared its support to the delimitation bill linked with the women’s reservation. Supporting the Centre’s delimitation plan, Badal on Saturday posted that the party demands the immediate implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the country. He added that SAD supports Centre’s proposal for a uniform 50% increase in seats in all states.

“The Shiromani Akali Dal, at a meeting of its senior leaders in Chandigarh today, demanded the immediate implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the country,” Badal posted on X. “The Shiromani Akali Dal draws inspiration from the teachings of the Sikh Gurus, who championed the dignity, equality and equal rights of women. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (@SGPCAmritsar) has already set an example by providing for women’s reservation in its House.

After detailed deliberations on key issues before Parliament, the Shiromani Akali Dal also demanded a fair and equitable delimitation that ensures equal representation to all States. The SAD supported the proposal which was put up by Government of India at the floor of the house of uniform increase of 50% of seats of all states. He said the party emphasised that women reservation and Delimitation should be done immediately.

The development comes at a time when the Central government is making a fresh attempts for the passage of a Constitution Amendment Bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and redraw the Lok Sabha constituencies to increase their number to 816 in the ongoing Monsoon session by reaching out to opposition leaders and NDA allies.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader Daljit Singh Cheema said, “We were not opposed to delimitation. For some time, our concern was that states which had successfully implemented population control measures should not be disadvantaged… There was a suggestion from the Home Minister that 50 per cent seats would be increased for everyone. Once we agreed that the formula was sound, we consented to its implementation, along with the rollout of delimitation and women’s reservation.” Currently the SAD has only one member in the Lok Sabha.

The issue, however, remained unresolved between Mr Gandhi and Mr Rijiju with the minister responding to Congress leader’s demand that the government implement the bill as passed in 2023 unconditionally, said the Opposition leader knew that the reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies was provided for under the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 or the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.

Its provisions, he said, would come into effect only after a delimitation exercise based on Census figures published after the Act’s passage in 2023. Since the figures for the ongoing 2026 Census — including caste enumeration — could take substantial time, implementation could be delayed until at least the 2034 General Election, he said.

Mr Rijiju argued that if women’s reservation was to be implemented from the 2029 General Election, delimitation would have to be undertaken at the earliest, using the latest available Census figures. “The implementation methodology has been proposed under the Delimitation Bill, 2026, introduced in the Lok Sabha along with the amendments to the Constitution. However, the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, introduced for the purpose, was defeated in the Lok Sabha,” the Minister said.

In his video, Mr Gandhi said India could not become a successful country without women being able to express themselves freely. “Our country is stunted and incomplete without the expression of women,” he said, calling for women to be able to question their parents, husbands, and brothers, and to speak without fear.

In a response to the video, Mr Rijiju said: “Now, I hope the Congress Party will support the Women’s Reservation Bill unconditionally.” The sharp exchange between Mr Rijiju and Mr Gandhi came amid the government’s renewed effort to push through the delimitation package.

In April, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc voted against the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which sought to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha to 850 seats and reserve 33% of them for women after carrying out a fresh delimitation exercise.

Opposition parties had raised concerns over the implications of a fresh delimitation exercise for the political representation of States that have successfully pursued population control. Though the government failed to secure the two-thirds majority mark of 360 in the current 540-strong Lok Sabha (there are three vacancies) on April 17, 2026, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has added more members to its fold since then.

Since April, the government has already secured the support of 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs, who are now part of the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), along with six Shiv Sena MPs of the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) faction, who have switched sides to be part of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Despite repeated denials from the party, there is also speculation in political circles that the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which has eight MPs, could also reconsider its stance on the delimitation issue in the coming days.

Interestingly, Akali Dal had opposed the Delimitation Bill when Centre first brought it in Parliament in April and had voted against it along with the Opposition. The part had then described the bill as discriminatory towards Punjab stating that the state will only see a marginal increase in seats while neighbouring states will gain more. Now, with the alliance talks gaining momentum, the party has said it supports the Delimitation Bill with 50% seat increase assurance.