"Ready for women's reservation on existing 543 seats": KC Venugopal urges Centre to withdraw Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill

New Delhi [India], April 17 : Congress MP KC Venugopal on Friday urged the government to withdraw the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 and implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, without changing the number of seats in the Lok Sabha.

If the government is unable to muster the two-thirds majority to pass a constitutional amendment to increase the Lok Sabha's strength up to 850, the Centre could consider withdrawing the Bill and move ahead with delimitation and women's reservation based on the 2027 Census.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament premises, Venugopal asked the government to hold an all-party meeting and withdraw the constitutional amendment, and the Opposition will support the implementation of the reservation of one-third seats for women legislators.

He said, "Let them call an all-party meeting, withdraw this bill, and we are ready for complete implementation of women's reservation with the existing 543 seats. If you want to safeguard the interests of the women, this is the best way. In the name of women's (reservation), you want to hijack the democracy, which we cannot allow."

Stating that the amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was notified last night, he added, "The 2023 legislation was notified yesterday night. They are talking about women's empowerment, and we saw the Prime Minister's drama, but they notified the 2023 legislation last night. If they have sincerity, then why this delay? You only delayed the women's reservation bill, which substantiates that."

The NDA holds 292 seats in the Lower House of the Parliament, while the two-thirds majority mark stands at 362 to pass a constitutional amendment. If the Centre withdraws the Bill, delimitation can be done without increasing the total number of seats in the Lok Sabha while reserving 33 per cent seats for women legislators based on the 2027 Census data.

Congress MP Hibi Eden also opposed the increase in the number of seats in the Lok Sabha, alleging that southern states are being penalised for controlling population.

He said, "Had we seen the Women's Reservation Bill politically, we wouldn't have unanimously passed this in 2023. If the Prime Minister has sincerity in what he says about the reservation law, then he should have implemented it in 2024. But there is a hidden agenda bypassing the women's reservation law to have the delimitation process, which is totally unacceptable. The delimitation process is not scientific, and is penalising those states that took a firm stand after 1976 in terms of population control, healthcare, and education. This is a blatant attack on the constitution of India and the cooperative federal structure of the country."

Today, the Lok Sabha is set to continue discussion and vote on the passage of the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, 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 up to 850.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor