Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress on Wednesday (March 25, 2026) stated the “U-turn Ustad” now needs to implement the women’s reservation law with out finishing the delimitation and census operations.
It stated the Prime Minister has let it’s identified {that a} “special two-day session” will likely be convened within the subsequent fortnight to pass the amendments obligatory to implement the law.
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The Opposition occasion alleged that this was a “weapon of mass diversion” to change the narrative from “foreign policy failures and setbacks and from the LPG and energy crisis facing the country”.
Congress normal secretary in control of communications, Jairam Ramesh, stated the Modi authorities can also be planning to improve the dimensions of the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas by 50%, which additionally wants cautious deliberation.
In September 2023, the brand new Parliament House was inaugurated with the passage of the women’s reservation invoice — or Nari Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 — that amended the Constitution to present for one-third reservation of women within the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas and in addition supplied for one-third reservation for women in seats reserved for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, Ramesh identified.
Both these reservations have been to grow to be operational after the delimitation and census workouts have been accomplished, he stated.
When the Nari Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, was being debated, the Indian National Congress had demanded its rapid implementation from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections itself, he identified.
However, the Modi authorities had acknowledged this was not potential since each delimitation and the census had to essentially be accomplished first, Mr. Ramesh recalled.
“Now the U-turn Ustad has, after 30 months, suddenly changed his mind and wants to implement the reservations WITHOUT completing the delimitation and census operations,” the Congress chief stated.
“The PM is unmatched in unleashing WMDs — Weapons of Mass Diversion. He has done it many times before, and he is doing it again now. Desperate to change the narrative from his foreign policy failures and setbacks and from the LPG and energy crisis facing the country, he has come up with this new initiative,” he stated.
Wanting to take full political benefit of it, the prime minister has let it’s identified {that a} particular two-day session will likely be convened within the subsequent fortnight to pass the amendments obligatory to the Nari Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, Mr. Ramesh stated.
He stated the Opposition events have written to the federal government that an all-party assembly ought to first be convened after the present spherical of Assembly elections is accomplished on April 29, when no matter amendments are being proposed will be mentioned.
“The Modi government is also planning to increase the size of the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas by 50 per cent. This too needs careful deliberation,” Mr. Ramesh stated.
He alleged that the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has been diminished to being the “Modi Code of Campaigning”.
“Calling a special two-day session any day in April would violate one MCC but will be in keeping with the other,” he stated.
This additionally calls into severe query the Modi authorities’s actual dedication to really conduct a caste census that it had introduced in April 2025, after accusing the Congress leaders of affected by an city naxal mindset for elevating this demand in the course of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and in the course of the 2024 Lok Sabha election marketing campaign, Mr. Ramesh stated.
Sources stated the federal government is unlikely to instantly deliver a invoice to improve Lok Sabha seats to 816 in order that 273 of them may very well be reserved for women in the course of the ongoing Parliament session, which can be adjourned early however is not going to be prorogued, to maintain open the choice of reconvening after the upcoming Assembly elections.
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Sources indicated that there’s little or no likelihood that the federal government would desk the structure modification invoice that may tweak Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in Parliament within the subsequent few days.
It is learnt that there was no proposal to deliver the draft invoice earlier than the Union Cabinet till Tuesday (March 24, 2026) night, when it’s scheduled to meet.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had on Monday (March 23) mentioned the matter with some NDA constituents and a few non-Congress opposition ground leaders. But consultations with the principal opposition occasion, Congress, and one other main occasion, TMC, have been but to happen.
As there have been talks of curtailment of the continued Budget session, sources indicated that there’s a risk of adjournment of the Parliament earlier than the April 2 schedule, nevertheless it is not going to be prorogued in order that the identical session will be reconvened.
The provision to present 33% reservation to women within the Lok Sabha and state assemblies was introduced by amending the Constitution in 2023, however it is going to come into impact after the completion of the delimitation train.
According to the broad contours accessible, the variety of Lok Sabha seats could be elevated from the current 543 to 816, with 273 seats reserved for women. The reservation can even be finished on a “vertical basis” with seats allotted for SCs and STs.
The redrawing of the constituencies will likely be finished on the premise of the 2011 census quite than the proposed 2027 census.
An identical train will likely be carried out for state assemblies, the place seats will likely be reserved on a professional rata foundation.
While a Constitution modification invoice will tweak the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, one other peculiar invoice will amend the Delimitation Act.
Once permitted by Parliament, the proposed legal guidelines will come into drive on March 31, 2029, and can assist reserve seats within the subsequent Lok Sabha elections and meeting elections in Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh.
In September 2023, President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Nari Shakti Vandan Bill.
The law is formally generally known as the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act.
Several Opposition events on Tuesday (March 24) wrote to the federal government, asking for an all-party assembly to be convened to focus on the modalities of the implementation of the women’s quota law.
In a letter to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, the opposition leaders stated the assembly must be held after the present spherical of meeting elections is accomplished in April.
Published – March 25, 2026 10:27 am IST
