Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 9: A war of words broke out between the Congress and BJP on Saturday over the implementation of the women's reservation law and the proposed delimitation legislation after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said no country could be successful if its women did not have a voice.

Gandhi's remarks prompted Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to describe them as a "visible change of heart" and express hope that the Congress would support the proposed legislation.

Hitting back, Gandhi said on X that the Women's Reservation Bill had already been passed and accused the government of blocking its implementation by linking it to delimitation.

"The women's reservation Bill has already been passed and the government is blocking its implementation with the delimitation rider. 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.

He questioned why the law had not been implemented even after three years and why the government was seeking to link it to delimitation.

He called for the 2023 law to be implemented without conditions.

Responding to Gandhi, Rijiju said the Congress leader knew "very well" that reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assemblies was provided under the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023.

Rijiju said Gandhi also knew that the law would come into effect only after a delimitation exercise based on census figures published after 2023, meaning census figures published after 2026.

"The exercise for publishing the census figures after the year 2026 is currently underway. However, this may take substantial time due to the caste-based census to be finally published. In view of this, it may result in considerable delay in the implementation of women's reservation, at least not before the 2034 general elections," Rijiju said.

He argued that to implement women's reservation in the next general elections in 2029, the delimitation exercise would have to be undertaken at the earliest using the latest available published census figures.

Rijiju said the implementation mechanism had been proposed under the Delimitation Bill 2026, introduced in the Lok Sabha along with the required constitutional amendments.

However, he said the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, introduced for the purpose, had been defeated.