Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has strongly criticised the ruling NDA government, saying opposition parties are not against women’s reservation but are objecting to the inclusion of delimitation provisions in the proposed constitutional amendments.
Kharge stated that the INDIA bloc has long supported one-third reservation for women, but has rejected what he described as a “combined legislative push” linking women’s quota with electoral delimitation, reported ANI.
“We are not anti-women, and we have been working for one-third women’s reservation for a long time,” Kharge said.
He further alleged that the government’s approach of introducing multiple bills together was aimed at altering the constitutional framework and increasing executive control over future electoral changes.
Kharge argued that merging the Women’s Reservation Bill with delimitation-related provisions was a strategic move that could enable future changes through a simple majority in Parliament.
“By bringing these three bills together, they wanted to gain power so that any further delimitation law could be passed and changed in the House with a simple majority,” Kharge said.
He added that such provisions could affect the structure of political representation after the next census or caste census exercise.
The remarks come after the Constitution Amendment Bill linked to women’s reservation through delimitation failed to secure the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha. In the voting, 298 MPs supported the bill while 230 voted against it, resulting in its defeat.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla confirmed that the bill did not meet the constitutional threshold required for passage.
The government had introduced multiple related bills, including the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill. However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju later stated that the remaining bills would not be taken forward.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had earlier criticised opposition parties for blocking what he called a landmark reform providing 33 per cent women’s reservation in legislatures.
Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, have maintained that they support women’s reservation in principle but oppose linking it with delimitation, arguing that it could significantly alter India’s electoral structure.
