Congress Urges Govt to Hold All-Party Meet on Women's Reservation

By: WE Staff | Friday, 13 March 2026

• Congress demands that the government call an all-party meeting on the issue of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam
• The government had been holding consultations with different parties on how best to hasten the amendment

The Congress has proposed to the government that instead of consulting political parties individually on the issue of advancing the timeline for the implementation of the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, the government must call for an all-party meeting on the issue.

The Act proposes reserving 33 percent of the total number of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for women.

The legislation has also been described as the Women's Reservation Bill, 2023. It was passed by Parliament during a special session held in the new Parliament building on September 21, 2023.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had contacted the Congress and the Samajwadi Party on behalf of Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue of amending Section 5 of the Act.

This section states that the reservation for women will be implemented only after a delimitation exercise based on the first Census held after the commencement of the Act.

Also, pre-legislative consultations are very important because the Bill is to amend the Constitution; the process under Article 368(2) requires that any amendment shall be carried by a simple majority of all the members of both Houses of Parliament and 2/3 of all the members who are present and voting in both Houses.

The BJP holds 240 seats in the Lok Sabha and 103 in the Rajya Sabha and therefore has no numbers to pass this amendment.