Congress MP Mallu Ravi stated the party will support the Women's Reservation Bill only if it's delinked from the Delimitation Bill. He accused the BJP of trying to claim credit for the bill, which he called the 'brainchild of the Congress Party'.
Congress's Condition: Delink from Delimitation
Congress MP Mallu Ravi said his party will support the Women's Reservation Bill only if it is delinked from the proposed Delimitation Bill.
Speaking to ANI on Thursday, Ravi said the Women's Reservation Bill was first passed in the Rajya Sabha during the tenure of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. He added that the bill was the "brainchild of the Congress Party" and accused the BJP of trying to claim credit.
Congress MP said, "The Women's Reservation Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha during the tenure of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. Later, the same bill was cleared in the Lok Sabha in 2003, unanimously. This means that Congress and other opposition parties supported and passed it. However, it still needed to become a law. Everyone knows in India that the bill was the brainchild of the Congress Party. The BJP and the Prime Minister are trying to portray themselves as the champions of the bill."
He further added that the Congress would extend support only under certain conditions. "All the leaders of the Congress party have stated that they will support the Women's Reservation Bill, provided it is delinked from the Delimitation Bill. If it is not delinked, we will not support it." Ravi added.
Broader Opposition Skepticism
The debate over the Bill and its linkage with the proposed delimitation exercise heated up as Lok Sabha on Friday is set to continue discussion and vote on the passage of the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, which provides 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and State Assemblies, along with the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) bill, 2026 extending it to Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, and the Delimitation Bill, which is set to increase and redraw Lok Sabha constituencies, increasing them to 850.
Furthermore, supporting the Bill, Congress MP Prashant Yadaorao Padole alleged that the government was attempting to mislead the public by linking it with delimitation.
"We support the women's reservation bill, but the delimitation bill being introduced is an attempt of the government to confuse the public. They are doing this as the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal Assembly elections are being held," he told ANI.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party MP Mohibbullah Nadvi also accused the ruling party of using women-centric schemes as electoral tools and questioned their sincerity. "As Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, they have made women the slogan for the elections...Schemes are introduced (for women) by the (BJP) in the run-up to the elections and then are rolled back after the elections...Their intentions are not pure," he said.
Parliamentary Process and Sparring
These remarks come amid continued political sparring over the Bill, with opposition parties seeking clarity on its linkage with delimitation and the government maintaining that the reform is aimed at increasing women's representation in legislatures.
According to the list of Business for Lok Sabha, The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026; The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026; and The Delimitation Bill, 2026 will be taken up for discussion together.
Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are also likely to move that the amendments to the Women's Reservation Bill, and the Delimitation Bill be passed.
Earlier on Thursday, the Lok Sabha held a marathon 12-hour session to discuss the amendments to the women's reservation bill, which removes the need to implement the bill only after the census is conducted. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)