Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Monday (April 27, 2026) passed a resolution to implement reservation for women following the delimitation exercise even as Congress MLAs sought that it be implemented immediately.
Members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Opposition Congress engaged in an intense debate during the one-day special session convened following the defeat of the the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which sought to make delimitation a prerequisite to implement the women’s reservation, in the Parliament earlier this month.
The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav seeking a reservation of one-third of the Legislative Assembly seats immediately after the conclusion of delimitation exercise.
Mr. Yadav said, “Today marks a special occasion—a day when, in solidarity with the sentiments of half our nation’s population, the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly becomes the very first assembly in the country to dedicate this entire day to the rights of our sisters.”
Umang Singhar, the Leader of Opposition, however, opposed the bill. He said that a private member resolution was also submitted by the Congress Legislative Party seeking an immediate enforcement of the Women’s Reservation Act [Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam], 2023, on the current strength of the Parliament and State Assemblies.
“This private member resolution concerns the timeline for the immediate implementation of the 33 percent reservation on the existing seats. When will the delimitation exercise take place? When will the census be conducted? Would the government be willing to hold a discussion on this matter here today?” Mr. Singhar said, urging Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar to accept the Opposition’s resolution.
An intense exchange between the Treasury and Opposition Benches followed the demand, with Congress members questing the BJP’s “intent” for linking the reservation with the delimitation exercise.
Congress MLA Bala Bachchan slammed the BJP-led Union Government for issuing a notification enforcing the 2023 Act while a debate to amend the same law was going on in the Parliament.
“Even though the law had already been enacted [in September, 2023], you failed to issue its notification for a period of two years and five months. This reveals your true intentions that you are making a mockery of all these rules and regulations and that you yourselves do not wish to grant 33 percent reservation to women,” said Mr. Bachchan.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, however, said that the 2023 Act makes it clear that it requires a delimitation exercise for its implementation.
“When the law was passed [in 2023], there was not even a hint of a caste census. Now, the caste census is a time-consuming process, that is why the government desired that the benefits—specifically the 33% reservation— be made available by the year 2029,” Mr. Vijayvargiya said, amid interruptions by the Opposition legislators.
Even as Congress members persisted with their demand, the Speaker refused to accept the private member’s resolution, prompting a walkout by the Opposition in less than half an hour after the government’s resolution being presented.
However, the MLAs returned to the House in the evening ahead of the Chief Minister’s address.
Mr. Yadav alleged that various Opposition parties such as the Congress, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Samajwadi Party (SM) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), were “complicit in denying the 33% reservation to women”.
“Say what you will, but the Congress squandered the opportunity to break through the ceiling. Today, out of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, there are only 74 female MPs, constituting 13.6%. Had this Bill been passed, the total number of seats would have stood at 850, and the number of women representatives would have reached 273. The burden of this sin lies squarely on the shoulders of the Congress,” he said.
Mr. Yadav said that there are six women Lok Sabha MPs from Madhya Pradesh at the moment and the number could go up to 14 if the reservation was implemented.
“If women’s representation is being more than doubled, what exactly is wrong with that? In the M.P. Legislative Assembly, the number of legislators could have increased from 230 to 345, and 114 seats would have been reserved for women. This would provide opportunities to women belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other marginalized sections of society,” the CM said, urging the Opposition to support the resolution.
Mr. Singhar, however, accused that there was a contrast between the government’s words and its actions.
“With only five women among the 31 ministers in Madhya Pradesh, how can there be any talk of women’s reservation? There is a discrepancy between the government’s words and its deeds,” he said.
Earlier during the discussion, the ruling party’s charge was led by women legislators such as Minister Krishna Gaur and Burhanpur MLA Archana Chitnis.
Ms. Gaur alleged that the Congress “never intended” for women to get reservation, recalling the defeat of a similar bill in 2010 in the Lok Sabha.
“The Congress must not forget that in 2010, when [former Prime Minister] Manmohan Singh’s government introduced this bill, it was their very own allies who opposed it in the Rajya Sabha; yet, even then, the BJP extended its cooperation to ensure its passage in the Upper House. However, when the bill reached the Lok Sabha, those same allies tore up the legislation and threw it aside, while the Congress stood by as a silent spectators as there was tacit support from behind the scenes ensuring that women’s reservation would not be passed at any cost. This is their true nature; this is their true intent,” she said.
The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2010, failed to pass in the Lower House due to opposition from various regional parties, including the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Janata Dal [United], which sough a sub-reservations for OBC women.
Congress MLA Sohanlal Valmiki, however, said that the special session of the Assembly had been convened to seek political gains following the defeat of the 131st Amendment Bill, alleging that it was introduced “wrongfully under the guise of delimitation and the census”.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill was part of the delimitation package that sought to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha to 816 as a prerequisite for women’s reservation in Parliament. It was defeated in the Lok Sabha on April 17, with 298 members voting in support of it and 230 against it. The Bill required a two-thirds majority.
