Raut calls delimitation move ‘BJP Bill’, not Women’s Bill

Sanjay Raut accused the BJP-led Centre of pushing a “disguised” delimitation bill, asserting the Opposition will unite to block it. He said leaders like Uddhav Thackeray are coordinating to ensure MPs’ presence and defeat the legislation.

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said the BJP-led Centre is under the illusion that opposition MPs from Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala won’t visit Parliament during voting on the delimitation bill due to elections in their states.

Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Raut said major opposition leaders, including his party chief Uddhav Thackeray, have been tasked with coordination. The Rajya Sabha MP said Thackeray and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee share warm relations. So, it was decided that Thackeray would talk to Banerjee to ensure that her party MPs remain present in Parliament and vote against the bill, he said.

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He said Thackeray joined a meeting of opposition leaders in New Delhi through video-conferencing.
The government does not have a two-thirds majority, so the bill to delimit constituencies cannot be passed, Raut said. This is not a “Mahila Nari Shakti” bill but a BJP bill, and the Opposition will not allow it to be passed in Parliament, he said.

The Sena (UBT) leader alleged a ploy by the Centre to bring the bill when elections are underway in Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry so that TMC and DMK MPs and even those from Kerala do not attend the Parliament session.
“The government is under the illusion. All TMC and DMK MPs and members from Kerala will be in Parliament. We have started working towards bringing all MPs together. This bill won’t be allowed to pass,” he said.

The Budget session of Parliament has been extended, and a special three-day sitting of the House has been convened from April 16 to 18, during which amendments to the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, more commonly known as the Women’s Reservation Act, will be introduced.
Meanwhile, ‘The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026’, ‘The Delimitation Bill, 2026’ and ‘The Union Territories Laws (Amendment Bill), 2026’ were presented in the House on Thursday.

According to the bills, Lok Sabha seats will be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census. Seats would also be increased in the state and Union Territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women, as per the bills.
The Opposition has said it will not allow Parliament to be “hijacked by flawed delimitation bills disguised as women’s reservation”.

The Congress said the true intent of the bills being brought by the government in the garb of implementing the women’s quota law is “mischievous” and they have to be rejected completely in their present shape and form.