Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday pushed back against the ruling NDA’s charge that Opposition parties blocked women’s empowerment, insisting the INDIA bloc has consistently backed one-third reservation for women.
His remarks come a day after the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, failed to clear the Lok Sabha, sharpening a political confrontation between the government and the Opposition over the manner in which the proposed quota was being implemented.
Kharge questions linking of reservation with delimitation
Speaking to ANI on Parliament premises, Kharge said the Opposition’s objection was not to women’s reservation but to the way it had been tied to a future delimitation exercise.
“We are not anti-women, and we have been working for one-third women’s reservation for a long time. We unanimously supported the 2023 amendment and passed it. However, under the guise of that, they introduced another amendment, inserting a delimitation clause into it, thus consolidating the women’s reservation and delimitation bills,” he said.
He argued that combining multiple legislations could allow the government to alter key provisions later with a simple majority. “By bringing these three bills together, they wanted to gain power so that any further delimitation law could be passed and changed in the House with a simple majority… You should do it within the 543 members. After the next census or caste census is complete, you can complete it in the next election… Your intention is to change the structure of the Constitution and take executive power into your own hands…” he added.
Bill falls short despite marathon debate
The controversy follows the government’s failure to secure the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha for the Constitution Amendment Bill, which was linked to implementing women’s reservation through delimitation.
In the voting held after a day-long debate, 298 members backed the Bill while 230 opposed it, leading to its defeat.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla confirmed that the legislation did not pass as it fell short of the constitutional threshold.
Govt drops linked bills, war of words intensifies
The government had introduced three interlinked legislations, including the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill. However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju later indicated that the remaining proposals would not be taken forward.
Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had accused Opposition parties of blocking a key reform aimed at providing 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies.
Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, have maintained that they support women’s reservation but oppose linking it with delimitation, arguing that it could alter the country’s electoral structure.