Govt planning 'special session' to amend women quota Act: Opposition

Cabinet skips Women's Reservation Act amendment as Opposition alleges a special Parliament session plan, raising concerns over census, delimitation, and Lok Sabha expansion

The Union Cabinet did not take up a draft bill to amend the Women's Reservation Act for approval at its Wednesday meeting, Official sources said. 

The Opposition alleged that the government now plans to bring the Bill in Parliament during a “special session” later. 

Parliament is set to complete the Budget exercise for 2026-27 by Friday with the Rajya Sabha likely to approve the Finance Bill 2026 that day. Parliament will not sit on Thursday because it is a holiday. 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha that the Finance Bill, given its importance, will be taken up on the coming Friday, March 27. 

 

The Congress on Wednesday claimed that the government now wants to implement the women’s reservation law without completing the delimitation and census exercises by passing amendments during a “special two-day session” of Parliament in the next fortnight. 

The Congress alleged that this was a "weapon of mass diversion" intended to shift the narrative away from the government's "foreign policy failures and setbacks and from the LPG and energy crisis facing the country". Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, said the Modi government also plans to increase the size of the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas by 50 per cent, a move requiring careful deliberation.