Session returns Apr 16

New Delhi: The Budget Session of Parliament will reconvene on April 16 after a brief recess to pass Bills to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 816 so that the women’s reservation law can be implemented at the earliest, in what is expected to be the latest flashpoint between the government and the opposition amid the poll season.

While the government is keen on passing the Bills, including amending the women’s reservation Bill or Nari Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, the Opposition has accused the Centre of trying to hurriedly move for passing amendments to take political advantage in the state elections.

The two Houses will reconvene on April 16, with sources saying that the sitting will likely be for three days to take up the proposed legislations. The government is learnt to have conveyed to the Opposition parties that the Houses are likely to meet for three days beginning April 16.

Sources said that the Bills for implementation of the women’s quota law would likely to be brought in Lok Sabha first.

Earlier in the day, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, while speaking in Rajya Sabha, said the House will meet again soon to consider a key legislation.

“We have certain Bills and important issues, and we have shared this with the opposition also. We are going to have a very important Bill in the next two-three weeks,” he said.

The government has been holding back-channel talks with the Opposition to bring at least two bills to implement the women’s reservation law and delink delimitation from the Census to increase seats in Lok Sabha from the present 543 to 816.

The issue saw a war of words between the treasury and opposition benches in Rajya Sabha, with Leader of House J P Nadda stressing that the government has the right to decide on the timing when a legislation has to be brought in, while Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of being a “bully”, and claimed that the BJP of trying to draw political mileage out of the issue of women’s reservation.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, speaking in Rajya Sabha, said that the Opposition has demanded that an all-party meeting should be called once the assembly elections are over, and alleged that the government is pushing the bill despite the Model Code of Conduct being in place in the poll-going states.

“The government has a single-minded objective -- to gain some electoral advantage by passing the bill, violating the Model Code of Conduct... This is wholly objectionable, and all opposition parties want all party meetings to be held after April 29,” he said.

Rijiju, however, replied that the government is bound to fulfil its promise given to the women of the country. “What is important is that we have a bound duty, a commitment which the Parliament of India has given to the women of this nation. This has nothing to do with specific state elections. We must take it forward because we have certain limitations when we look at the time scale,” he said.

“Let us not get into politics over this important issue,” the minister said.

Kharge, meanwhile, said that the Congress is in support of reservation for women in the legislature, but the proposed bills are important and have long-term implications. “We all support reservations for women... Don’t play games on when and how to bring the Bill,” he said.

Rijiju insisted the issue was being politicised by the Opposition, and said, “I am unable to understand why Congress does not want to attend the meeting”.

Sanjay Singh of AAP also accused the government of politicising the issue. NCP (SCP) MP Fauzia Khan questioned if reservations would also be given to women in Rajya Sabha and legislative councils in the states, while RJD’s Manoj Jha questioned the government’s stand on the demand for reservation for SC, ST and OBCs within the seats reserved for women. Nadda, meanwhile, stressed that it was up to the government to decide the date for the “legislative business”. Ramesh also pointed out that when the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was passed, the government stated it could not be implemented in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls because delimitation was required. The Congress on Wednesday had claimed that the Modi government is proposing to “bulldoze” a bill to increase the size of the Lok Sabha by 50 per cent with the number of seats allocated to each state also to be increased by 50 per cent, and said such a move would “disadvantage” smaller states in the South, Northeast and West.

There was no official word on the Opposition party’s claims.

This was the second half of the Budget Session and the House usually adjourns sine die at the end of it. The House normally meets in the Monsoon Session after this.

According to the government calender, the House was scheduled to adjourn sine die (for an indefinite period) on April 2.

While elections in Puducherry, Assam and Kerala are scheduled for April 9, polls in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. In Tamil Nadu, polls will be held in a single phase on April 23.