Opposition parties on Wednesday vowed unity to defeat the government’s legislative proposals to expand Lok Sabha strength to 850 to implement 33% reservation for women, with Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi terming the bills “anti-national” a day before the special session of Parliament.
Gandhi demanded that reservation for women should take into account the caste census proposed in the 2027 census.
“The fact is that if Modi ji succeeds, the share of small states, southern states and north-eastern states will be reduced, which is a huge loss for them. I consider this an anti-national activity. Our position is clear: If you want to reserve seats, do it on the basis of OBC and 2026 census. If you want to implement the Women’s Bill, it is already there and we will give you full support. But we will not allow action against OBCs and southern and smaller states,” Gandhi said in a video message.
Earlier in the day, 20 opposition parties and Independent MP Kapil Sibal attended a strategy meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence. “We must all fight united in Parliament. We will oppose this bill, but we are not against reservation [for women]“He said, leaving.
Read also: What is the border demarcation process, concerns about North versus South and why the opposition opposes it | He explained
What bills are offered at LS today?
The government is set to introduce three bills – the Delimitation Bill, 2026, the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-first Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 – to raise the Lok Sabha ceiling from 550 to 850 seats and to conduct delimitation based on the latest census figures – effectively for 2011 – to begin the delimitation process. Quota for women in the 2029 general elections.
In a post on website
The draft law amending the Constitution must be approved in each chamber by a majority of the total members of that chamber, and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting. The opposition says drawing borders based on the 2011 census would put southern states at a disadvantage even as the government says the increase would be proportional – a word not mentioned in the version of the bill distributed to lawmakers on Tuesday.
In the 540-seat Lok Sabha (three vacancies), the National Democratic Alliance – which has 292 MPs – needs a significant amount of opposition votes. If all 540 MPs vote, the bill will require the support of 360 MPs. The opposition will need at least 181 votes to reject the bill.
Can the opposition stand united in the election season?
For the Opposition, the biggest challenge is keeping its flock together amid election campaigns in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and the government’s efforts to woo lawmakers. According to two senior officials, the Trinamool Congress, which has 28 MPs in the Lok Sabha, told the Opposition that it could provide only 10 legislators to vote in the Lok Sabha as the others were busy campaigning for the polls in West Bengal.
The Congress and BJP issued whips to their MPs in the special session.
Rahul Gandhi’s letter aims to highlight how the Congress has been at the forefront of reservation for women but did not support the amendments as they go against caste and backward classes. “Now a big scam is being done. The Prime Minister does not want reservation based on caste census, OBC census and new census. He wants to use the 2011 census which has no OBC numbers. He wants to snatch your representation. The new census has started which will have OBC census, why don’t you pass the Women Reservation Bill on the basis of new census?” he asked.
Gandhi also responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying: “I understand that you want to give a message to the country that you are pro-women. But you are worried about the Epstein files. There are 35 lakh files locked in the US and the keys are with Trump ji. And you are afraid. But this cannot be the way. You want increase in seats and delimitation your way and give nothing to OBC. We will not let that happen. Old data will not work. Only 2026 caste census data should be used.”
Earlier in the day, Rashtriya Janata Dal working president Tejashwi Yadav, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena MP (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), MP Sanjay Raut, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s TR Balu, Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh and other prominent India Bloc leaders attended the meeting at the Karg residence.
Kharge later accused the government of taking a “politically motivated” step to suppress opposition parties.
He said: “We all support the Women’s Reservation Bill. But the way they brought this law, we have reservations about it. It has political motives. Just to suppress the opposition parties, the government is doing this. Although we have supported the Women’s Reservation Bill continuously, we insist on implementing the previous amendments. They are playing some tricks in demarcating the boundaries.”
“This demarcation is very dangerous. According to this bill, the percentage of many states will go down, especially for the southern states and northeastern states. The way the demarcation commission has worked in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir, it is clear that the commission is a weapon in the hands of the BJP to get majority. We are against demarcation. We want reservation for women in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections,” Ramesh said.
Ramesh added that the opposition will oppose the bills democratically in both houses of Parliament. Southern states have already expressed concerns about reducing their proportional representation in the lower house of parliament. In a post on website
He called on everyone to transcend partisan differences to raise a strong and united voice against border demarcation. “So, beyond partisan differences, let us all raise our voices! If we refuse to raise our voices tomorrow, our voice will be worthless in Parliament!” He said.
