April 16, 2026
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s objection to the introduction of The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026
Hon. Sir, I rise on behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress to raise my objection for introduction of the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026 for two reasons. The first reason is that Article 334A is arbitrary as it makes women’s reservation dependent on a future delimitation exercise, contingent on the discretion of the Government. This creates uncertainty and allows the Government to delay implementation. Equality cannot depend on political exercises. Equality comes by birth and by democratic rights given in the Constitution by Ambedkar Saheb whose birth centenary we celebrated this week. Secondly, the Constitution mandates periodic readjustment after each census under Articles 82 and 170 for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. This Bill deletes that mandate and substitutes it with executive discretion, converting the obligation into political choice. Women should be elected to the additional seats, for example, the All India Trinamool Congress always fields more than 33 per cent women candidates, even before the Bill was passed in 2023 and women will be elected to the additional seats created through reservation, without cutting the number of seats held by existing male MPs. This is chauvinism, anti-democratic and unconstitutional. Thank you, Sir.
