New Delhi, July 18 (IANS) With the Monsoon Session of the Parliament scheduled to begin from July 20, the Opposition INDIA bloc appears divided over the proposed Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, that previously linked the delimitation exercise with women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.
The proposed Bill had earlier failed to pass through the Lok Sabha during the Budget session in April.
Speaking to IANS, Congress leader Nana Patole stated that the party is not opposed to delimitation. “False rumours are being spread about us. Our opposition is that the central government, under the guise of delimitation, wants to seize all power and decide the number of MPs and MLAs,” he said.
“We are opposing the Centre’s attempt to have this control. The delimitation provision is already in the Constitution, and we have no objection to it,” he added.
Mentioning that the Women’s Reservation Bill was already passed in 2023, Patole said: “The government should have implemented that Bill in 2024, but now they are proposing the 50 per cent Reservation Bill, which we also don’t oppose, but the 2023 Bill should have been implemented first.”
“We oppose the Centre’s misuse of powers and those who want to abolish the Constitution,” he asserted.
NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule refused to comment on the Delimitation Bill, saying, “There is no clarity on the matter at the moment. Since the Bill has not been introduced yet, how can anyone comment on it? Let the Bill be presented first. We will read it and then express our views. It would not be appropriate to comment before that.”
However, Congress MP Jothimani claimed that the proposed Bill is “against the southern states, the northeastern states, Kashmir, and Punjab”.
“That is why we vehemently oppose the Bill. Also, time and again, we have clarified that the Delimitation Bill has nothing to do with the Women’s Reservation Bill. The Women’s Reservation Bill was already passed by Parliament in 2023. So, this government is masquerading this Bill as the Women’s Reservation Bill and trying to manipulate things. Hopefully, parties like the DMK, the SP, and the NCP, which stood with the Congress Party and with our state last time, will do the same this time,” she told IANS.
RJD chief spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav referred to the delimitation exercise as a “very sensitive issue”.
“The sentiments in southern India and those in northern India are different. If the government wants to carry out delimitation, it should first implement the Women’s Reservation Bill, which was passed in 2023, on the basis of the existing seats. But the government does not want to implement it. Instead, it wants to keep the issue pending,” he said.
–IANS
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