The government has not abandoned plans of calling a special session of Parliament to clear the pending agenda of delimitation and 33 per cent women’s reservation.Top sources today said a special session was in the works as parliamentary managers were now confident of securing the high majority needed to clear the Constitution amendment Bills.The sources said they were confident they would win with a margin of “15 to 18 votes”, adding that the winter session was normally held in December but a special session could be called before that.The confidence stems from ongoing efforts of government leaders to engage all parties across the political spectrum to formalise 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, and endorse a delimitation of constituency plans to do the same.The previous versions of the Bills were defeated on the floor of Lok Sabha by a joint Opposition.Following that, the government has engaged all parties afresh and has also expressed a willingness to put into the Bills assurances with respect to proportional rise in the Lok Sabha seats of states so that the states that achieved family planning goals early are not at a loss.Union Home Minister Amit Shah had earlier proposed to raise 50 per cent seats of all states over and above their current Lok Sabha strength.The government has engaged the DMK, the NCP (SP) and the Shiv Sena (UBT) on the Bills, with government managers saying talks have been positive.The current Lok Sabha strength is 543 MPs with three vacancies. The government needs 361 votes if all MPs are present and voting (a special two-thirds majority) for the Bills.The Congress questioned the special session plan today, with party leader Jairam Ramesh saying the Home Minister had revived the “delimitation push” and said a three-day special session would soon be called and the Bills passed by a 15-18 vote margin.“He had said the same thing seven months earlier, but on April 17 faced a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha by a decisive margin, falling short by over 50 votes. He is the master of bluff and bluster. His bulldozer did not work then and will not work again,” Jairam said.The Congress is seeking an all-party meeting on the issue but Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju recently said the government had consulted the DMK, SP, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the AIMIM on delimitation, but the Congress did not give time for a meeting.The government can call a special session any time because the monsoon session has not been prorogued even though it was adjourned on August 13.Jairam has questioned the non-prorogation of Houses but Rijiju says Houses have remained un-prorogued for long periods, extending up to even 87 days.“In 2008, the Lok Sabha sat for two days, on July 21 and 22, for the confidence motion; the House was then kept un-prorogued, reconvened on October 17 and was adjourned on October 24 to meet again on December 10,” Rijiju said.He also quoted parliamentary records to cite more such instances — 1987 (76 days), 1989 (54 days), 2006 (49 days), 2013 (49 days) and 1963 (41 days).