Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that calling a special session of Parliament amid elections in the states strengthens the perception that the government is rushing to implement the Women’s Reservation Act for political gains. In a letter to Prime Minister Modi, Kharge reiterated his demand that an all-party meeting be called after April 29 to discuss the delimitation issue. This delimitation is being linked to the amendments in the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, 2023. This letter from Kharge has come in response to the Prime Minister’s letter in which he had mentioned a special session of Parliament from April 16 to discuss the Nari Shakti Vandan Act.
In a letter written to Modi on Saturday (April 11, 2026), the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha said, “I have just received your letter regarding the special session of Parliament to discuss the Nari Shakti Vandan Act from April 16.” Kharge said, “As you know, the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, 2023 was passed unanimously by the Parliament in September 2023. At that time, on behalf of the Indian National Congress, I had demanded that this important law should be implemented with immediate effect.
Demand to call an all-party meeting
The Congress president said that though the Prime Minister had mentioned in his letter that there was widespread consensus for its immediate implementation, yet he did not implement it. He said, “30 months have passed since then and now this special meeting has been called without taking us into confidence and your government is again asking for our cooperation without giving any information about the delimitation. You can understand that without details of delimitation and other aspects, it would be impossible to have any meaningful discussion on this historic law.” He said, ”You have mentioned in your letter that your government has held talks with political parties in this regard. However, I regret to say that this is contrary to the truth as all opposition parties are urging the government to call an all-party meeting to discuss constitutional amendments after the current round of elections is over on 29 April 2026.
Haste to gain political advantage – Congress
Kharge said calling the special session during the ongoing elections in the states only reinforces the Congress’ belief that the government is rushing the implementation of the law to score political points rather than genuinely empowering women. The Congress president said, “It pains me to write that the government’s past record on matters of public importance does not inspire any confidence – be it demonetization, GST, Census or matters related to the federal structure like implementation of Finance Commission recommendations and devolution of taxes.”
What did Kharge say about constitutional amendments?
Kharge said both the Center and states will be affected by the proposed constitutional amendments and it is important that in a democracy, all parties and states, no matter how small, are heard. He said, “If the purpose of the special meeting is to ‘strengthen our democracy’ and ‘move forward by taking everyone together’, as you have written in the letter, then I would suggest that the government convene an all-party meeting any time after April 29 to discuss the delimitation issue.” A bill can be brought to increase the number of seats to 816 (of which 273 seats will be reserved for women).
Congress’s allegation
The Congress had also alleged last week that politics was being done in the name of the Women’s Reservation Act and the delimitation related to it was “not constitutional” and could have “serious consequences”. It was also decided in the meeting of the Congress Working Committee that Kharge would call a meeting of leaders of all opposition parties around April 15 and make a common strategy for this special session to be held from April 16 to 18. Meanwhile, voting has been held in Puducherry, Assam and Kerala on April 9, while in West Bengal, voting will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29. Elections will be held in Tamil Nadu in a single phase on 23 April.
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