New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) Southern states will gain when the strength of the Lok Sabha is increased up to a maximum of 850 seats under a Constitution amendment bill as the number of constituencies will be increased proportionately, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Tuesday.
The special three-day sitting of Parliament will begin on Thursday to consider a legislative package, including the ‘The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, for the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
The bill along with the ‘The Delimitation Bill, 2026’ and ‘The Union Territories Laws (Amendment Bill), 2026’ have been circulated among the MPs.
Rijiju asserted that the constitution amendment bill is absolutely balanced, well thought of and will take care of the aspirations of every community, region and state. So, he said, there is no scope for any criticism.
“If somebody criticises it in terms of policies and programmes, that is very understandable in the political arena — different political parties have different takes — but no party is opposing 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures.” The minister said this is “not only a bill of the government, it is a bill of all political parties and the whole country in one way or another”, and expressed confidence that all parties will support the cause of women’s empowerment unitedly.
“The southern states are fortunate that despite controlling the population growth, despite a lesser number of people in terms of proportionate, in terms of ratio, they still gain because the numbers have risen proportionately,” he told reporters here.
Rijiju said if someone goes through the entire provisions of the three bills — “every state, every region, every community are taken care of, and there is nothing to worry”.
He said some people tried to mislead the southern states in the past by saying that they would lose out due to their successful family planning.
“In fact, the southern states are fortunate that despite controlling the population growth… they still gain because the number of seats has risen proportionately,” he said.
“No state is losing. Every region, every state is given the provision of an increase in seats.” He said this is a historic moment to showcase how Indian society is thinking about shaping the future and giving women the lead role in the country’s development.
“The equality in society must be practised in spirit and also by framing appropriate laws,” he said.
On the opposition questioning the timing of the special sittings, Rijiju said he would not like to go into the politics of which party was saying what, but the main thing was that no party was opposing women’s reservation in parliament and assemblies.
“When we passed this Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in the last Lok Sabha, no political party opposed it. So in principle and in spirit, everybody is together in Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam; every party is together,” he said.
The minister said there may be “some statements for political purpose; they may have made some comments and (there may be) some differences in opinion”, but no political party will oppose the primary objective of providing reservations to the women in Parliament and assemblies of the states.
“We have waited for 40 years. We can’t afford to wait for another year or another decade. It will be extremely painful if we further delay the women’s reservation process,” he said.
“The women of the country who are going to get a place in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha, the place they are going to get is not a matter of any one party,” he said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also thanked every political party when the women’s reservation bill was introduced, and “all parties came together to make it possible”. PTI ACB NAB RT
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