In a rare show of unity, Andhra Pradesh’s ruling and opposition parties expressed their disappointment over the defeat of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which is part of the delimitation.
Chief Minister and TDP president Chandrababu Naidu wrongly claimed that the Congress-led Opposition had opposed the Women’s Reservation Bill and denied “India a historic step toward women’s empowerment".
“This is not just political obstruction, it is a betrayal of millions of women who deserve equal voice and rightful representation in Parliament. The nation will remember,” he said in a statement.
BJP’s ally Jana Sena Party (JSP) also alleged that the political women’s representation was “deliberately blocked by the Opposition".
“The opposition’s stance makes it clear that they lack the intent to support transformative reforms that strengthen Bharat’s democracy and empower women. By refusing to back the Women’s Reservation Bill, they have once again placed political calculations above national progress, delaying a long-overdue step toward inclusive governance and gender justice,” JSP chief and Andhra Pradesh Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan said.
The BJP-led Union government had linked the Women’s Reservation Bill with the delimitation. The Opposition had urged the government to immediately implement the 33% Women’s reservation independently without carrying out the delimitation exercise.
Congress’ general secretary Priyanka Gandhi challenged the government to introduce the old Women’s Reservation Bill, which was passed unanimously in 2023. “Hold Parliament on Monday, bring the Bill and let's see who is anti-woman. We will all vote and support the Bill,” she said.
Andhra’s Opposition leader YS Jagan also faulted the Opposition for stalling the Bill.
“Opposing parties should seriously question themselves; what have they achieved? While the reality is that the numbers would come down for the south and women reservation bill has been postponed !” (sic)
He claimed that justice is rendered neither to the South nor to the women. “If the 2026 census were to come, the situation would be worse off for the south, further penalised for being disciplined in matters of family planning,” he said.
Responding to Jagan’s endorsement of the Bill, Congress’ AP in-charge Manickam Tagore said that the YSRCP chief is “silent” because of his pending cases.
“People clearly see why you’ve gone silent — pressure of pending cases has pushed you to surrender before Narendra Modi and Amit Shah,” he said.
He further pointed out how the proposed delimitation could manipulate the electoral outcome.
He said that in the 2024 Assam state elections, the BJP got 37.43% votes while the Congress secured 37.48% votes. Despite the vote share, NDA won more seats.
“This is not representation — this is manipulation. Delimitation in the hands of the BJP will not reflect people’s voice; it will manufacture results. Constituencies will be redrawn not for fairness, but for political advantage — ensuring leaders like N Chandrababu Naidu benefit.”
He accused Jagan not only of staying silent but also of enabling it. “Andhra Pradesh will pay the price for your compromises,” he said.
Following a fiery debate, the Opposition on Friday defeated the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, with 298 members voting in favour of it and 230 against it.
The Bill sought to redistribute Lok Sabha seats on the basis of the 2011 Census to expedite the implementation of women’s reservation but failed to achieve the two-thirds majority mark of 352 required.
Though the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in 2023, the BJP government and its allies are portraying the stalling of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, as a setback to the political representation of women.