Opposition to decide its stand on Women's Reservation Bill, meeting to be held on April 15

News Topical, Digital Desk : A meeting of opposition parties has been called on April 15 to formulate a common stance on the government's proposed amendments to the women's reservation law. The Congress Working Committee also decided on a joint strategy for the special session of Parliament scheduled to run from April 16-18 on Friday.

The committee strongly opposed the move to separate the 2026 census and delimitation from this reservation measure. It also accused the BJP of attempting to sabotage the caste census and influence the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal elections by keeping Parliament in session during the election campaign. The opposition is expected to introduce amendments to the government's proposal.

Congress criticized the government

The CWC particularly criticized the government for not sharing the proposed amendments with the opposition a week before the special session. Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi said the government was playing politics. Sachin Pilot reportedly argued that basing the delimitation on the 2026 census would help create a sub-quota for OBC women.

Manish Tewari and Mukul Wasnik reportedly argued that the government cannot decide the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies and then demand delimitation.

Congress supports women's reservation

Some members argued that Congress supports reservations for women, but the constitutional process of "census-delimitation-SC/ST/women quotas" must be followed. Sonia Gandhi reportedly cautioned that the party should not be seen as opposing the proposal.

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