NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha witnessed a showdown between opposition and the treasury benches as government on Thursday introduced bills to amend the women’s quota law and set up delimitation commission.The house erupted soon after Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill and the Delimitation Bill 2026, while home minister Amit Shah proposed to introduce the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
The Bills were introduced after a fiery 40-minute debate following which the opposition pressed for the division of votes to introduce the Constitutional (131st Amendment) Bill.The Bill was later introduced with 251 members supporting it and 185 members voting against the introduction.Congress MP KC Venugopal voiced strong opposition to the introduction of the bills, claiming that this was an attempt to alter the constitutional fabric of the nation for certain motives.“I object to the bill introduced by Union Ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and Amit Shah. This bill is a fundamental attack on the Indian federal structure. What exactly is the intention of this bill?”Lok Sabha Speaker intervened, asking him to reserve his arguments during Rule 72 and assured the Opposition of providing ample time to put forth their objections during the full-fledged debate.‘Why is the government in a hurry?’Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav backed women’s reservation in principle but questioned the urgency behind the bills.He said that the government should first conduct a Census before proceeding with delimitation-linked reforms, highlighting concerns over outdated population data.“Why is the government in a hurry? We are in favour of Women’s Reservation Bill. They don’t want the census because then we will demand caste reservation, you want to mislead.”Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi also criticised the government, alleging that it was creating obstacles to delay the implementation of women’s reservation by linking it to delimitation.He argued that the quota could be implemented immediately based on the current Lok Sabha strength and accused the Centre of using the bill as a backdoor route for delimitation.“You are again and again creating hurdles for women’s reservation. If you had listened to us in 2023, women’s reservation would have been implemented in 2024,” Gogoi said.“Women’s reservation should be implemented on current strength of Lok Sabha — 543; it must not be linked to delimitation.”“This bill is not for women’s reservation, but it is for delimitation through the back door,” he added.Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant spoke in the same vein.“We are not against women’s reservation, but we have reservations about the delimitation bill. There are concerns about how such exercises are carried out,” he said.DMK MP T R Baalu said, “Yesterday, our leader M K Stalin burnt the draft Bill at a public rally in Salem, which shows that we have to oppose it.”The total strength of the ruling NDA in the Lok Sabha stands at 292, while the major opposition parties have 233 MPs. For the Constitution amendment bill to be passed, it requires a two-thirds majority of those present in the House at the time of voting.Amit Shah hits backMeanwhile, home minister Amit Shah hit back at the Opposition, stating that the Census process is already underway and will include caste enumeration. He also rejected demands for religion-based reservation, calling it unconstitutional.“I want to inform the entire country that the census process has already begun. The government has taken a decision to conduct a caste census. Our Constitution doesn’t allow reservation on the basis of religion. Any reservation to Muslims on the basis of religion is unconstitutional,” Shah said.“To take the Women’s Reservation Bill to a logical end, these two laws are necessary, that is why these two laws have been brought together. The opposition is opposing the bills because they had decided to oppose everything in their meeting,” he added.BJP MP Giriraj Singh expressed confidence that the amendments to the Women’s Reservation Act for its early implementation will receive broad support in Parliament.“I have full confidence that when they come to the House, they will develop sensitivity towards women. Women have been waiting for years, and now their patience is running out. This will be passed collectively,” Singh told reporters inside the Parliament House complex.The motion states that the this House “do suspend the proviso to rule 66 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha in its application to the motions for taking into consideration and passing of the Delimitation Bill, 2026 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 in as much as these are dependent upon the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-first Amendment) Bill, 2026”.The government has been seeking opposition support for passing the amendment bill to implement the women’s reservation bill from the 2029 Lok Sabha polls on the basis of the 2011 census.
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