The Congress party’s top decision-making body, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), met at Indira Bhawan in Delhi, and according to discussions within the party, it is poised to question the government on its timing and intent to bring the Women’s Reservation and delimitation amendment bills during the special parliamentary session from April 16 to 18.
According to political analysts, the question is whether the opposition can afford to vote against the bill during an election season, as it may impact their electoral standing in the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, on Friday, claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s proposed bill to amend the women’s reservation law and expand the number of parliamentary seats could violate the Model Code of Conduct and have “grave consequences”. He also asserted that the opposition would move unitedly on this issue.
Addressing the CWC meeting, Kharge said the issue required deeper consultation and stressed that the opposition would respond in unison. “Following this meeting, we will formulate a joint strategy after consulting our colleagues in the opposition. We will move forward together,” he said.
Other alliance partners of the Congress, like the DMK, who also hold a considerable share in the Lok Sabha, have also positioned themselves in a way that indicates they may not support the bill, not on the basis of insufficient provisions for women’s reservation, but due to concerns over the reduced relative importance of certain states after its implementation. The apprehension is that states with higher population growth may gain disproportionately greater representation compared to those that have controlled population expansion.
The Congress chief also questioned the timing of the special Parliament session scheduled from April 16 to 18, alleging it was targeted at gathering political gains. “The Modi government is convening Parliament’s sittings with the sole intention of securing political advantage and is keen to pass the Constitutional Amendment Bill in utmost haste,” Kharge said.
He noted that the proposed amendments could significantly impact India’s electoral system and therefore warranted “very deep deliberation”. “Based on the information we have received so far, the government wants to implement women’s reservation starting from the 2029 elections… it wants to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha from 543 to 816,” Kharge said.
Opposition leaders cite the example of the widening gap between southern and northern states. At present, Kerala has 20 seats, and Uttar Pradesh has 80—a difference of 60 seats. After a proposed 50 per cent increase, this gap could widen to 90 seats, with Kerala rising to 30 seats and Uttar Pradesh to 120.
Raising concerns over the delimitation exercise, he added, “This delimitation proposal will have serious consequences. Therefore, there is a need for very deep deliberation on delimitation.”