New Delhi: The Congress has asked the Narendra Modi government whether it has a fresh proposal on delimitation and why it is "stubbornly refusing" to convene an all-party meeting, setting up a fresh confrontation over an issue that saw a Constitution Amendment Bill defeated in the Lok Sabha earlier this year.
In a post on X, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh asked whether the Centre intended to revive the Bill, defeated on April 17. He said party president and Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge had written to the Prime Minister on October 16, and that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had replied a day later.
Ramesh said Rijiju's reply referred to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's consultations with some parties in March 2026 but did not mention that commitments made then were absent from the Bill. He asked three questions: whether the government has a firm new proposal discussed with any party; why it refuses an all-party meeting to present it "in a transparent manner"; and whether it intends to bring back the defeated Bill.
Rijiju, in his letter, said the government had consistently sought the Opposition's support for the delimitation-linked women's reservation legislation. He said he had written to Kharge on March 16, 26 and April 12, met Rahul Gandhi during the monsoon session, and, after the Congress did not give dates for discussions, reached out to the DMK, SP, YSRCP, NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT), AIMIM and the BJD.
The government's position is that women's reservation and delimitation are linked subjects. The Opposition's objection is that a delimitation proposal is being pushed without an all-party discussion. The issue had stayed quiet since the Bill's defeat in April.