Overview
- Congress has asked the government to convene an all-party meeting on any change to the Women’s Reservation Act and cautioned against divide-and-rule tactics.
- Government sources say officials are examining options to implement the quota before the post-Census delimitation, with no formal Cabinet proposal prepared.
- The 2023 law links the 33% reservation to a delimitation based on the first Census after its commencement, so accelerating the timeline would need a fresh constitutional change.
- With 240 Lok Sabha MPs and 103 in the Rajya Sabha, the BJP lacks the supermajorities required to pass another amendment without opposition backing.
- Outreach so far has been informal, including contacts by Kiren Rijiju on Amit Shah’s behalf and a missed March 5 meeting with the Samajwadi Party, while NDA allies TDP and JD(U) say they were not consulted but support women’s representation.