Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday described the proposed delimitation exercise linked to an increase in Lok Sabha seats as an “assault on the Constitution” and urged the government to hold an all-party meeting after April 29.
In an opinion piece published in The Hindu, Gandhi alleged that the Centre had rejected the Opposition’s repeated requests for an all-party meeting, calling the approach an act of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “one-upmanship” and a “my way or the highway” style of governance.
Gandhi questioned the timing of the government’s move on the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam amendment, accusing it of rushing legislation during an ongoing election cycle in states such as Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in order to “derive political advantage and place the Opposition on the defensive”. “There can be only one reason for the extraordinary hurry,” she said, alleging that the intent was to gain political advantage and further accusing the Prime Minister of being “economical with the truth.”
She clarified that the Opposition fully supports the 33% reservation for women in legislatures, but strongly objects to proceeding with delimitation before the 2027 census. Gandhi warned that any such exercise based on “unofficially available” data would be “extremely dangerous” and undemocratic.
Citing her article, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the government’s urgency was not about women’s reservation but about delimitation and delaying the caste census debate.
Gandhi further urged the government to convene an all-party meeting after April 29 and bring the constitutional amendments in the Monsoon Session, calling the current “tearing hurry” unjustified and driven by narrative management.
The remarks come ahead of a special Parliament session beginning April 16, during which the government is expected to push amendments linked to women’s reservation and delimitation, including a possible expansion of Lok Sabha seats.
The former Congress president said Opposition leaders had written three times seeking an all-party meeting after April 29 to discuss the proposals, but the request was rejected. She criticised the government for instead resorting to op-eds and public outreach, calling it an “underhand tactic” reflecting a “my way or the highway” approach.
She also argued that there is no urgency, noting that the Monsoon Session begins in mid-July and that the proposals could have been discussed then after wider consultation and public debate. Sonia Gandhi, however, maintained that the process being followed is “deeply flawed and anti-democratic,” asserting that “reservation for women is not the issue here… the real issue is delimitation.”
