‘Anti-national’: Opposition vows unity to defeat govt's proposal for Lok Sabha expansion

OPposition parties on midweek vowed unity to licking the authorities’s legislative proposals to spread out the strength of the Lok Sabha to 850 for implementing 33% women’s reserve as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi called the bills “anti-national” a day ahead of Parliament’s special sitting.Gandhi demanded that women’s reservation should take into account the caste enumeration proposed in the 2027 census.“The truth is if Modi ji has his way, the share of smaller states, southern states and the northeast states will be reduced, which is a major loss for them. I consider this as anti-national activity. Our stand is clear: if you want to reserve seats, do it on the basis of the OBC census and the 2026 census. And if you want to implement the women’s bill, it is already there and we will give you full support. But we will not allow action against the OBCs, southern and smaller states,” Gandhi said in a video message.Earlier in the day, 20 opposition parties and independent MP Kapil Sibal attended a strategy meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence. “We all parties should unitedly fight in Parliament. We will oppose this bill, but we are not against the reservation [for women],” Kharge said.Also Read: What is delimitation exercise, concerns over North vs South and why is Opposition against it | ExplainedWhich bills are being introduced in LS today?The government is set to introduce three bills –The Delimitation Bill, 2026, The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-first Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill 2026 – to raise the Lok Sabha ceiling from 550 to 850 seats and conduct delimitation based on the latest – effectively the 2011 – census figures to roll out the women’s quota from the 2029 general elections.In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “The Opposition will do whatever it takes to defeat the Constitution Amendment Bill especially. The country should prepare itself for a political earthquake.”The constitution amendment bill must be passed in each House by a majority of the total membership of that chamber, and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting. The Opposition argues that delimitation based on the 2011 census will put southern states at a disadvantage even as the government says the increase will be proportional – a word not mentioned in the version of the bill circulated to lawmakers on Tuesday.In the 540 seat-strong Lok Sabha(three seats are vacant), the National Democratic Alliance – which has 292 MPs – needs a large chunk of votes from the Opposition. If all 540 MPs vote, the bill will require the support of 360 MPs. The Opposition will require a minimum of 181 votes to defeat the bill.Can opposition stand united in elections season?For the Opposition, the biggest challenge is keeping its flock together amid election campaigns in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and the government’s efforts to woo lawmakers. According to two senior officials, the Trinamool Congress, which has 28 Lok Sabha MPs, told the Opposition that it could spare only 10 lawmakers for voting in the Lok Sabha as others were busy with the West Bengal poll campaign.The Congress and the BJP have issued whips to their MPs for the special session.Rahul Gandhi’s message aimed to highlight how the Congress was at the forefront of women’s reservation but would not support the amendments as it went against the caste census and backward castes. “Now a big fraud is being done. The Prime Minister doesn’t want the reservation on the basis of the caste census, OBC census and the new census. He wants to use the 2011 census which doesn’t have OBC figures. He wants to snatch away your representation. The new census has started which will have OBC enumeration, why don’t you pass the women reservation bill on the basis of the new census?” he asked.Gandhi also hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying, “I understand that you want to give a message to the country that you are pro-women. But you are worried about the Epstein files. 35 lakh files are locked in the US and the keys are with Trump ji. And you are scared. But this can’t be the way. You want an increase in seats and delimitation in your way and give nothing to OBC. We will not allow this to happen. Old data would not work. Only 2026 caste census data should be used.”Earlier in the day, Rashtriya Janata Dal working president Tejashwi Yadav, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s TR Baalu, Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh and other prominent INDIA bloc leaders attended the meeting at Kharge’s residence.Kharge later accused the government of making a “politically motivated” move to suppress the opposition parties.“We are all in favour of the Women’s Reservation Bill. But the way in which they have brought it, we have reservations about that. It is politically motivated. Just to suppress the opposition parties, the government is doing this. Though we have supported the Women’s Reservation Bill continuously, we insist that the earlier amendments be implemented. They are playing some tricks with delimitation,” he said.“This delimitation is very dangerous. According to this bill, the proportion of many states will decrease, especially for southern states and north-eastern states. The way the delimitation commission has worked in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir, it is clear that the commission is a weapon in the BJP’s hands to gain a majority. We are against the delimitation. We want women’s reservation from the next Lok Sabha election,” Ramesh said.Ramesh added that the opposition will democratically oppose the bills in both Houses of Parliament. Southern states have already expressed their concerns over their proportional representation in the Lower House of Parliament reducing. In a post on X, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin said, “Let the black flag fly tomorrow in the homes, streets, and shops of Tamil Nadu! Let it stand as our symbols of resistance at the doorsteps! This is not the struggle of an individual movement; it is the struggle of Tamil Nadu!”He called everyone to rise above party differences to raise a strong and united voice against delimitation. “Therefore, transcending party differences, let us all raise our voices! If we refuse to raise our voices tomorrow, our voice will become worthless in Parliament!” he said.