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As the Constitutional Amendment Bills are introduced in the Lok Sabha, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said that the opposition stands united in opposing the delimitation bill "disguised as women's reservation".
"The Opposition will not allow Parliament to be hijacked by flawed delimitation bills disguised as Women's Reservation. We stand united and will fight this devious assault on our Democracy with all our strength," Kharge posted on X. The amendment bills to operationalise the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam of 2023 were introduced in the Lok Sabha today, even as the Opposition pressed for a division against the move to introduce three Bills, instead of a voice vote. Secretary General of the Lok Sabha Utpal Kumar Singh had explained the procedure of casting a 'AYES', 'NOES', or 'ABSTAIN' vote to obtain the division through their respective systems in the Lok Sabha. Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla initiated the division to move to introduce the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026. The Opposition members in the Lok Sabha had pressed for a division against the move to introduce the bill. As per the final division, there were a total of 251 AYES and 185 NOES out of the total 333 votes. The three key bills--The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, The Delimitation Bill, 2026, The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026--were introduced subsequently. The Constitutional Amendment bill's implementation is tied to a population-based revision of constituencies based on the 2011 census. It proposes delimitation--a wider political overhaul--aiming to change the size and composition of state legislative assemblies and Lok Sabha. The opposition to the proposed delimitation bill has been mounting for a long time and has escalated after the Centre's recent approval of draft amendment bills to operationalise the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023. The government plans to implement the women's reservation ahead of the 2029 General Elections by bringing in an amendment to the 2023 Act and a constitutional amendment to delink the delimitation process from the 2027 census. The government has proposed to increase the number of seats in the House to 850, with 815 seats proposed for the States and the remaining 35 for the Union Territories. The Lok Sabha has 543 seats at present. (ANI)
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