The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using delimitation as a “political weapon” to increase its influence, Congress’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said on Thursday (April 16, 2026) as he accused the Narendra Modi government of trying to “bulldoze” delimitation through the backdoor, in the guise of implementing women’s reservation.

Mr. Gogoi, who was the first to speak from the Opposition benches in the Lok Sabha on three Bills, said they were “anti-women, anti-caste census, anti-Constitution, and anti-federal structure”.

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The three Bills are the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which seeks to amend provisions related to the women’s reservation law to operationalise it by the 2029 Lok Sabha election; the Delimitation Bill to set up a fresh delimitation exercise; and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill to extend the proposed framework to Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu and Kashmir.

“What they did through delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir and in Assam, they want to do in the whole country in the name of women’s reservation,” Mr. Gogoi said, adding that the government’s actions were “shameful”.

The Congress leader claimed that in the 2023 delimitation exercise in Assam, undertaken by the Election Commission of India, there were major discrepancies. While there was one Lok Sabha constituency which had 14 lakh voters, another parliamentary constituency had 25 lakh voters.

Mr. Gogoi said the Congress supported women’s reservation but insisted that it should not be linked to delimitation or a future expansion of seats in the Lok Sabha.

“If the government is serious about women’s reservation, implement it on the current strength of the House — 543 seats. Do not link it to delimitation,” he said, adding that his party had no objection if the women’s reservation were implemented in time for the 2029 General Election.

He argued that the government’s own Bill acknowledged that delimitation could take time, which, according to him, showed that the Centre was placing procedural obstacles in the path of the quota.

“This shows that you are not really in favour of women’s reservation. You are repeatedly creating hurdles,” he said.

Taking a swipe at the government, Mr. Gogoi said the BJP was indulging in “politics of symbolism” and attempting to use the quota law to advance its political interests.

He also questioned the basis on which the government had suggested increasing the number of Lok Sabha MPs to 850 seats. “Where did this number come from? Did it come from Nagpur, from a parliamentary report, or did it fall from the sky?” the Congress leader said.