- Minister sought opposition support for proposed bills’ passage.
New Delhi: There is no proposal for any special session from August 16 to 18 on the women’s reservation and delimitation bills, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Wednesday night.
The government is making a fresh attempt for the passage of a Constitution Amendment Bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and redraw the Lok Sabha constituencies to increase their number to 816 in the ongoing Monsoon session by reaching out to principal opposition party Congress and NDA allies, nearly four months after a similar effort failed due to lack of numbers.
There has been speculation in some political quarters about the possible reintroduction of the Delimitation Bill and the Women’s Reservation Amendment Bill in a special session of Parliament after Independence Day.
When asked about it, Rijiju denied any proposal for a special session.
“There is no proposal to have any special session from August 16 to 18 on women’s reservation and delimitation bills,” the minister told PTI.
As part of the outreach, Rijiju met Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday and discussed with him the reintroduction of the Bill, but did not get any commitment from the Congress leader, sources aware of the government efforts said. The government plans to meet other opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and the DMK leadership to gauge their view on the possible reintroduction of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill.
A government functionary earlier said if the government wants to reintroduce the delimitation bill, it will be done in the ongoing session and ruled out convening a brief special session soon after the Independence Day weekend.
It makes no sense as yet to consider any special session, as being talked about in some quarters, as there is still one more week left for this session to end, a government floor manager said.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
