'Why link it to delimitation?': Rahul Gandhi, Rijiju spar over Women's Reservation Bill

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju were involved in a fierce battle of words on X over the implementation of the Women's Reservation Bill.

The row began after Rijiju challenged the Congress to extend unconditional support to the women's reservation law, following Rahul Gandhi's remarks calling for greater representation and expression of women in Parliament.

Gandhi hit back, saying the Congress had already supported the legislation when it was passed and questioned why its implementation was now being linked to delimitation.

"Mr Rijiju, who would know better than you – as the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs -- that the Women's Reservation Bill 2023 has already been passed unanimously, with the full support of the Congress," Gandhi said in a post on X.

He asked why the law had not been implemented three years after its passage and demanded that the government implement it "without any conditions".

Why is women's reservation linked to delimitation?

Rijiju argued that the link is not being created by the government but is already part of the constitutional framework under the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023.

According to Rijiju, the law provides for reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies only after a delimitation exercise is undertaken based on census figures published after 2023.

He said the next census exercise could take considerable time, particularly because of the inclusion of caste enumeration, potentially delaying implementation of women's reservation until the 2034 general elections.

Rijiju argued that if the government wants women's reservation to take effect from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, delimitation would have to be undertaken earlier using the latest available census figures.

"The implementation methodology has been proposed under the Delimitation Bill 2026," Rijiju said, adding that the related Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 was defeated in the Lok Sabha.

What does the 2023 women's reservation law provide?

The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 provides for 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.

However, the reservation does not take effect immediately. Its implementation is tied to a delimitation exercise following the publication of the relevant census figures.

The law was passed by both Houses of Parliament in 2023 with broad political support, including from the Congress.

The current dispute is therefore not over whether women should receive reservation, but when and through what mechanism the reservation should be implemented.

Why is Congress opposing the government's approach?

The Opposition has supported women's reservation but has objected to linking its implementation with the proposed delimitation process.

Congress has demanded that the 2023 law be implemented independently rather than made conditional on a fresh delimitation exercise.

The Opposition has separately raised concerns about delimitation and its potential impact on the representation of states in the Lok Sabha.

Why does delimitation matter?

Delimitation involves redrawing the boundaries and, where applicable, determining the allocation of seats in legislative bodies based on population.

The Constitution currently links the implementation of women's reservation to a delimitation exercise following the relevant census.

This creates the central political disagreement: the government says an early delimitation is necessary if women's reservation is to begin from 2029, while the Opposition wants the women's reservation law to be implemented without making it contingent on the delimitation process.