New Delhi: Several women’s organisations and movements Friday came together to demand the immediate implementation of the women’s reservation law by delinking it from the census and proposed delimitation exercise, and announced a nationwide campaign, including a dharna at Jantar Mantar beginning July 20.
Addressing a joint press conference in New Delhi, the activists urged the government to bring a constitutional amendment in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament to remove the provision linking the implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative Assemblies to the census and delimitation.
The campaign will start July 20, the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, and will include a dharna at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
The activists plan to continue the protest for the full monsoon session.
The reservation protest would be held alongside the ongoing agitation of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has been demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and compensation for families of NEET aspirants who allegedly died by suicide, along with an indefinite fast by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and a group of student activists of AISA.
While the CJP plans a march to Parliament July 20 to press for their demands, the women’s groups said they would not join the march.
They added that they already have permission for the July 20 protest.
Similar dharnas and protest programmes will be held across states and districts, while activists will also meet Members of Parliament in their constituencies, hold outreach programmes to sensitise women on the issue, and organise a conference of women MPs, primarily from opposition parties.
“We want the reservation to be delinked from the census and delimitation and implemented immediately in the coming Monsoon Session. We don’t want any delay, and we don’t want to be fooled. We don’t want to be treated as second-class citizens by being told there will be space for us only after Parliament is expanded. We want space in this Parliament,” social activist Shabnam Hashmi said.
She said the campaign would reach out to lakhs of women across the country and include meetings with parliamentarians and grassroots awareness programmes.
Anjali Bharadwaj of Satark Nagrik Sangathan alleged that the government was using women’s reservation as a means to push through the politically contentious delimitation exercise.
“Don’t use us to get delimitation passed,” she said.
Referring to the 2026 special session of Parliament, Bharadwaj said the government had claimed it wanted to implement women’s reservation before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections but had simultaneously sought to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha through a constitutional amendment linked to delimitation. That proposal, she noted, was defeated in Parliament.
She said there was no transparency or public consultation on reports that the government may bring similar legislation again in the upcoming Monsoon Session. “People have a right to know what Parliament is going to discuss.
“The government must follow the pre-legislative consultation policy by placing Bills in the public domain and seeking public feedback,” she said.
Bharadwaj also argued that delimitation was a politically contentious issue, with concerns that it could benefit northern states at the expense of southern states, and said women’s reservation should not be tied to such a debate.
Activist Jagmati Sangwan said they have already launched posters, songs and slogans and would intensify efforts by meeting opposition leaders to build pressure for immediate implementation of the reservation.
“There is no logic behind linking women’s reservation with the census and delimitation. We are starting nationwide protests and will continue pressing for the reservation to be implemented immediately,” she said.
Annie Raja of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) said women’s groups were writing to opposition leaders, seeking their support for delinking the reservation from the census and delimitation, and were also planning a conference of women MPs.
“If delimitation is delayed, the reservation will also get delayed. We are meeting opposition leaders, and activists are also reaching out to MPs in their constituencies,” she said.
CPI(M) leader Mainmoona Mollah accused the government of reneging on its promise to women by linking the reservation with the census and delimitation, calling it a form of “political dishonesty”.
Parliament passed the Constitution (106th Amendment) Bill, popularly known as the Women’s Reservation Bill or the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, during a special session in September 2023.
The law provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
However, it also stipulates that the reservation will come into effect only after the first census conducted following the commencement of the Act and the subsequent delimitation exercise, with implementation from the election held after that process is completed.
The timeline for implementation has since become a subject of political debate. Opposition parties and several women’s organisations have argued that linking the quota to the census and delimitation could indefinitely delay its rollout, since the decennial census has been postponed since 2021.
The issue gained fresh political attention during the special session of Parliament in 2026, when the government proposed a constitutional amendment to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies as part of the delimitation exercise.
The proposal triggered sharp opposition, with critics alleging that the government was using the promise of women’s reservation to build support for the politically contentious delimitation exercise, which has also sparked concerns among several southern states over its potential impact on parliamentary representation.
The amendment bill was eventually defeated in Parliament, but reports that the government may revive a similar proposal during the upcoming Monsoon Session have once again intensified demands from women’s organisations to delink reservation from the census and delimitation process.
PTI
