New Delhi [India], April 16 : BJP leader Anurag Thakur accused the Congress and opposition parties of politicising the Women's Reservation Bill.
"I express my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his commitment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, so that Indian women can have their rights. This demand has been raised for a long time, but remained unfulfilled. Congress, which ruled for many years and even recently from 2004 to 2014, only made promises. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi failed to fulfil them. But Narendra Modi has delivered on his promises. This is the Bharatiya Janata Party's commitment to women's empowerment. All the NDA constituents have stood together with full force," he said on Wednesday.
The Delimitation Bill provides for the readjustment of the allocation of seats in the House of the People to the States and Union territories, the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of each State and Union territories having a Legislative Assembly, the division of each State and each Union territory having a Legislative Assembly into territorial constituencies for elections to the House of the People and Legislative Assemblies of the States and Union territories.
"Last time, it was passed unanimously, but this time, Congress and other opposition parties are politicising it. They are once again trying to prevent women from getting their rights. They are finding one excuse after another. The truth is that Congress and other parties do not seem to be in favour of women's empowerment. But no matter what, women must get their rights. Since becoming Prime Minister, Modi has ensured justice for women," he added.
The BJP leader accused Congress of "always tending to divide the country, sometimes based on caste and religion, sometimes based on region".
He said seats will not be reduced for any state.
"Even today, some Congress allies make the argument that the seats in southern states will be reduced. We want to say with great responsibility that no one's rights, no one's seats are being reduced, rather justice is being done to everyone," he said.
Three significant bills, including on implementing women's reservation from 2029 Lok Sabha polls and on delimitation of constituencies, are slated to be introduced and taken up in the special sitting of the budget session of Parliament today, with the opposition questioning the basis of plans to redraw constituencies and an increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats to 850 from the existing 543.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Delimitation Bill, 2026, are slated to be introduced by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, by Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Law Minister is also slated to move a proposal in the Lok Sabha to suspend the provisions of Rule 66 with the objective to pass the Women's Reservation Amendment Bill and the Delimitation Bill together.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged opposition parties to support the amendment to ensure the women's reservation comes into effect from the 2029 general elections. "This is the wish of every sister and daughter of this country, and we must fulfil it with unanimity," he said at an event in Dehradun on Tuesday.