The government said on Thursday that Parliament would postpone and resume its session before the end of this round of council elections.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha that Parliament will be adjourned and reconvened to discuss a “very important” bill, without providing details of the bill or dates for the extended budget session.
“We have some important issues and we have shared that with the opposition as well. We will have a very important bill in the next two-three weeks,” Rijiju said.
There is speculation that the House will go into recess and meet again after April 15 for a short period during which the government will introduce and pass the Nari Shakti Vandhan Adhinyam Bill, the Constitution (106th Amendment) Bill, also known as the Women’s Reservation Bill which seeks to reserve 33% seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures.
Tamil Nadu goes to the polls on April 23, and in West Bengal on April 23 and 29.
Rijiju was responding to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s questions on whether the current budget session will be extended or postponed indefinitely.
Ramesh said the government should agree to the opposition’s demand to hold an all-party meeting to discuss the issue and resume the session only after the assembly elections end on April 29.
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the Congress supports the idea of reservation for women in legislatures, but the proposed bills have long-term implications and accused the government of politicizing the issue, prompting Rijiju to deny the charge and reiterate the government’s promise to women to increase their participation in legislatures.
The provision, which is supposed to be introduced before the 2029 general election, is separated from the census and so-called delimitation process, with an effect modification.
The move could increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha to 816, of which 273 seats are reserved for women, and the proportional representation of each state will remain the same.
The budget session that began on January 28 was initially scheduled to end on April 2.
