Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday strongly criticised the Constitution Amendment Bill on women’s reservation, calling it an “attack on the Constitution” after it failed to pass in the Lower House.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Gandhi said the Opposition had stopped an attempt to change India’s electoral structure under the guise of empowering women.
“As I have said, it was an attack on the Constitution and we defeated that,” he said. “We clearly said that this was not a women’s Bill, but an attempt to change India’s electoral structure which we have stopped.”
He further alleged that the Bill was not focused on implementing women’s reservation but was linked to changes in delimitation and the electoral map.
‘Implement 2023 law without conditions’
Gandhi directly challenged the government, saying there was no need to attach additional conditions if it was serious about women’s representation.
“If you want the women’s Bill implemented, bring the 2023 law and implement it from today. The entire Opposition will support you and ensure women’s reservation from today itself,” he said.
In a post in Hindi on social media platform X, he repeated his claim that the Bill used what he called an “unconstitutional trick in the name of women” to weaken constitutional safeguards.
Priyanka Gandhi also targets government
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also criticised the government’s approach, arguing that linking women’s reservation to delimitation and an old census made the proposal unacceptable.
“The way the Modi government presented women’s reservation made its passage impossible,” she said. She added that the reliance on the 2011 Census, which she claimed did not adequately reflect OBC representation, was another major concern.
Priyanka Gandhi also pointed to cases of alleged crimes against women, including Hathras, Unnao, Manipur violence, and protests by women wrestlers, to question the government’s record on women’s safety and rights.
What the Bill proposed
The Constitution Amendment Bill sought to operationalise 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies starting from 2029. It proposed linking implementation to a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
The Bill also proposed increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha from 543 to a maximum of 850 seats to accommodate the reservation structure.
Bill defeated in Lok Sabha
The Bill failed to clear the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority. Out of 528 members who voted, 298 supported it and 230 opposed it, falling short of the required 352 votes.
While the government argued the Bill was aimed at enabling women’s reservation, the Opposition maintained it was part of a larger attempt to reshape electoral representation through delimitation changes.
