New Delhi [India], August 9 (ANI): Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday joined the political skirmish between Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over women’s reservation in legislatures, calling for delinking it from census and delimitation exercises.
On Saturday, an exchange of words broke out on X, with Rijiju insisting the Women’s Reservation Bill cannot come into force before the 2034 general elections because it hinges on a delimitation exercise tied to post-2026 census data, and Rahul Gandhi hitting back that the law was passed unanimously three years ago and should be implemented “without any conditions.”
Reiterating Congress’ stance on women’s reservation and delimitation, P Chidambaram alleged a “hidden agenda” of the BJP-led government at the Centre as women’s reservation was linked to delimitation with the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023.
The Congress leader said, “Mr Kiren Rijiju is wrong. Women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha is already provided in the law under the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, as pointed out by Mr Rahul Gandhi. It was unnecessarily and mischievously linked to the Census and Delimitation by the BJP government.”
“We had pointed out this in 2023, but the government was adamant because it had a hidden agenda. Snap this linkage, and Women’s reservation can be implemented immediately, well in time for the 2029 LS elections. Mr Kiren Rijiju is absolutely wrong,” he added in an X post.
The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 was passed in both Houses of Parliament, but failed to move ahead with implementation after the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill fell in the Lok Sabha on April 17, not being able to receive the constitutionally required two-thirds majority of members present and voting.
The Constitution Amendment Bill proposed the implementation of the 33 per cent women’s reservation in legislatures and delimitation in the Lok Sabha.
The spat began when Kiren Rijiju challenged the Congress to support the Women’s Reservation Bill unconditionally after Rahul Gandhi’s call for freedom of expression for women.
“This seems to be a positive message from the Congress Party. There’s a visible change of heart in Shri Rahul Gandhi Ji about the Women. Now, I hope the Congress Party will support the Women’s Reservation Bill unconditionally,” the Union Minister posted on X.
While the Congress and the opposition parties have expressed support for the women’s reservation bill, they opposed the delimitation exercise, seeking to increase the number of seats in the Lower House of Parliament. The Opposition has demanded delinking of women’s reservation from the delimitation exercise.
Rahul Gandhi hit back, questioning the Centre for linking the implementation of the legislation to the delimitation exercise in the Lok Sabha. He called for implementation of the 2023 Act without any conditions attached to it.
However, Rijiju pointed out that the delimitation based on the 2027 Census will lead to a delay in implementing the women’s reservation.
“The exercise for publishing the census figures after the year 2026 is currently underway; however, this may take substantial time (due to caste-based census) to be finally published. In view of this, it may result in considerable delay in the implementation of women’s reservation, at least not before the 2034 General Elections,” Rijiju said on X.
Explaining further, he said, “Therefore, to implement the women reservation at the next general elections in 2029, the delimitation exercise needs to be undertaken at the earliest, based on the latest available Census figures, as published. The implementation methodology has been proposed under the Delimitation Bill 2026, introduced in the Lok Sabha along with the amendments to the Constitution. However, the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which was introduced for this purpose, has been defeated.” (ANI)
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