Three Bills linked to women’s reservation and delimitation were introduced after a division of votes in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, setting off a sharp exchange between the Opposition and the Centre over federal structure, timing, and intent.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, along with the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, were taken up for introduction.
The proposal seeks to operationalise women’s reservation while also providing for a delimitation exercise and its application in Union Territories.
Initiating the debate, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said the move was being used for purposes beyond the stated objective.
“What they did through delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir and in Assam, they want to do in the whole country in the name of women's reservation,” the Congress' deputy leader in the House said, adding the government's actions were “shameful”.
He said, “..the government wants to "bulldoze" delimitation in the name of women's reservation, and asserted that if it is really committed to implementing the women's quota law it should do so immediately on the basis of the current strength of Lok Sabha.”
Gogoi added, “Our party is in favour of women's reservation but you must make it simple. It should be implemented on the current strength of the House -- 543 -- and must not be linked to delimitation.”
He also raised concern over caste census. He said the other apprehension is that the government is not in favour of caste census and does not want to implement it.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the Bills affect the balance between states and Parliament.
“I oppose this introduction of this Constitutional Amendment Bill because it violates the Parliamentary form of democracy and federalism, which are both part of the basic structure of the constitution. This is not about women's reservation. The main goal is to rule the South and to completely erase the representation of OBCs from the legislature,” Owaisi said.
He added, “Federalism is the basic structure of the Constitution. Removing the delimitation freeze, it gives more seats and power to the larger population while denying a fair voice to the smaller population. This again is the violation of federalism. The Hindi heartland has 38.1 per cent, and it will increase to 43.1 per cent (Lok Sabha seats). Southern states will decrease from 24 per cent to 20 per cent.”
He also said, “It also violates the direction. The minister has to give a seven-day notice for introducing a bill in this House. Similar copies of the Bill need to be given to the members two days before introduction. This is a clear violation of 123 B of RPA 1951. One week before voting, I call this a corrupt practice.”
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav linked the debate to caste census. “Why is the government in a hurry? We are in favour of the Women's Reservation bill; they don't want a census because then we will demand caste reservation, you want to mislead,” he said in the House.
TMC leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said, “We oppose the introduction of the Bills. We have implemented 33 per cent reservation for Women even before the Women Reservation Act was passed in 2023.”
The bills were introduced after a 40-minute discussion and a division of votes, with 251 members in support and 185 against.
Voting on the three Bills is scheduled for Friday at 4 pm after a 15–18 hour debate announced by the Speaker. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju had suggested a shorter duration, but the final call rested with the Chair.
The proposal outlines an increase in Lok Sabha strength to 850 seats from the current 543 to implement women’s reservation before the 2029 general elections after delimitation based on the 2011 Census.
There were a total of 251 yes and 185 no out of 333 votes cast.
The strength of the Lok Sabha will be increased to 815, of which 272 seats will be reserved for women, and neither men nor any state will suffer any loss due to the implementation of this quota, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said on Thursday.
In his introductory remarks in the Lok Sabha on the three bills moved to amend the women's quota law and set up a delimitation commission, Meghwal also said that 272 seats out of 815 in the House is the simple formula of reserving 33 per cent seats for women.
"According to the women's reservation bill, the strength of the Lok Sabha will be increased to 815, of which women's quota will be of 272 seats," the minister said.