48 hours to session, no bill in sight: Derek O'Brien on bills on women reservation, delimitation

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha Leader Derek O'Brien on Monday accused the Centre of "mocking Parliament", and said that lawmakers were yet to be given the draft of the legislations for women's reservation and delimitation.

In a post on X, O'Brien targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, saying, "Narendra and Amit continue to mock Parliament. And how!"

Parliament is scheduled to meet in the next 48 hours and "no one has even seen a copy of the proposed Constitutional Amendment," O'Brien said. He added, "This is what dictatorship looks like."


His remarks come amid mounting criticism from opposition parties regarding the government's push to introduce major constitutional changes, including those linked to delimitation and women's reservation.

The Union Cabinet has cleared draft bills to operationalise the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. The proposed changes include increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha from 543 to 816 seats, with 273 seats reserved for women.

The legislative package is expected to include a Constitution amendment bill to modify provisions of the Act, alongside amendments to the Delimitation Act to enable redrawing of constituencies in line with the expanded House strength.

Another bill is also likely to extend the implementation of the reservation framework to Union Territories with legislatures, including Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Puducherry.