Attack on Constitution defeated: Rahul on women’s quota Bill falling short in LS

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday described the Constitution amendment Bill seeking to modify the women’s reservation framework as an “attack on the Constitution”, claiming the Opposition had defeated an attempt to alter India’s electoral structure under the guise of empowering women.

Speaking to reporters after the Bill failed to secure the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said the proposed amendment was not intended to implement women’s reservation but to reshape the electoral framework through changes linked to delimitation.

“As I have said, it was an attack on the Constitution and we defeated that,” Gandhi said outside Parliament. “We clearly said that this was not a women’s Bill, but an attempt to change India’s electoral structure which we have stopped.”

In a direct message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi said that if the government was serious about implementing women’s reservation, it should operationalise the 2023 law without linking it to additional conditions.

“If you want the women’s Bill implemented, bring the 2023 law and implement it from today. The entire Opposition will support you and ensure women’s reservation from today itself,” he said.

In a Hindi post on X, Gandhi said the amendment Bill had fallen because the government attempted to use “an unconstitutional trick in the name of women” to undermine constitutional safeguards.

Congress general-secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also criticised the government’s approach, saying the attempt to tie women’s reservation to delimitation and reliance on an old census framework made the Bill unacceptable to the Opposition.

“The way the Modi government presented women’s reservation made its passage impossible. The BJP government linked women’s reservation to delimitation and the old census, in which the OBC category was not included,” she said.

Calling the development a victory for democratic principles, Priyanka Gandhi said the Opposition could not support a framework that altered representation without updated caste data.

Responding to BJP leaders accusing the Congress of opposing women’s empowerment, she cited cases such as Hathras, Unnao, Manipur and the protest by women wrestlers, questioning the ruling party’s record on women’s rights.

The Constitution amendment Bill sought to operationalise 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state Assemblies from 2029 by linking implementation to a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census. It also proposed increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha to a maximum of 850 seats from the current 543 in order to accommodate the quota.

In the Lok Sabha vote, 298 MPs supported the bill while 230 opposed it. Out of 528 members present and voting, the legislation required at least 352 votes to secure the constitutionally mandated two-thirds majority.