The government is trying to build consensus for the delimitation bill linked to women's reservation in the monsoon session, even as a parliamentary panel deferred the adoption of a report on a controversial constitutional amendment bill.

There is an effort by the government to reach a consensus with different political parties for a fresh push to the delimitation bill linked to women's reservation in the monsoon session of Parliament, sources said on Friday, noting that attempts are being made to remove apprehensions with assurance of a uniform 50% increase in Lok Sabha seats in states.

Sources said that while the government is close to a two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha, it is still seeking more support in the Lok Sabha. The Delimitation bill linked to women's reservation quota was defeated in the Lok Sabha in the budget session as it did not get requisite support. The situation has changed with "splits" in the Trinamool Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT). DMK also suffered a defeat in the recent assembly polls and has differences with Congress.

The Congress, however, has said that the government does not have the numbers to push the constitution amendment bills and that the opposition parties are united. Party leader Jairam Ramesh said that while splits in TMC and Shiv Sena (UBT) are setbacks for the opposition, the government is still far from the numbers for constitution amendment bills in the Lok Sabha.

Panel Defers Report on Bill to Remove Arrested Ministers

In a sudden decision ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament, the Parliamentary panel looking into the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025 and two other related bills on Friday decided to have more deliberations and deferred the adoption of the draft report. Chairperson of the panel Aparajita Sarangi said they have kept the report "pending as of now". The bill seeks to provide a legal framework for the removal of the Chief Minister, Minister or Prime Minister if arrested or detained for 30 days in cases of serious criminal offences.

Opposition parties are strongly opposed to the Constitution Amendment Bill, though members of some parties opposed to the BJP are participating in the deliberations of the panel. Though adoption of the draft report was on the agenda of the committee, it deferred the decision ."The meeting did not adopt the draft report today. We will have further deliberations. There were five recommendations placed before all of us. But when we started discussing the recommendations, the entire Joint Parliamentary Committee unanimously felt that we needed more deliberations and consultation with more stakeholders," Aparajita Sarangi later told reporters.

"We are keeping it pending as of now. We wrote two letters, to all 27 political parties--one on 13 May 2026 and another on 30 June 2026. Five parties sent their suggestions, but declined to join in. The government wanted to take everyone along. We held discussions with members from other parties, and there was broad agreement that the Bill would have far-reaching implications for the country. Everyone acknowledged that the government's intent was right, but felt the proposal required further discussion and consideration. Discussions with the major opposition parties are also continuing," she added.

The committee examining the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025, The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025 heard the views of Home Ministry officials on Friday." Consideration and adoption of Draft Report" was on the agenda of the panel.

An Opposition member later said that the decision to defer adoption of the report was taken while the voting was being done on the recommendations.

The monsoon session of Parliament will commence on July 20. (ANI)

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