Closing ranks ahead of a crucial Parliament session, the INDIA bloc, led by the Congress, on Wednesday made it clear that while it supports women’s reservation in principle, it wants the quota to be implemented within the existing strength of 543 Lok Sabha seats and not through a delimitation exercise being proposed by the Centre.At a strategy meeting convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, leaders from across the Opposition spectrum agreed to fight any move that links the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act to the 2011 Census and subsequent redrawing of constituencies on its basis.The Congress said the way the government was implementing it through delimitation was wrong and politically motivated and the Opposition parties would fight it in Parliament. Three Constitution amendment Bills, which need a two-thirds majority to get passed, are expected to be tabled during the extended Budget session starting on April 16.Speaking to reporters after the INDIA bloc meeting, Kharge said, “We support the Women’s Reservation Bill but have objections to the government’s approach. Its action is politically motivated….”Later, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi posted on X that what the government was proposing now had nothing to do with the reservation for women and the proposed amendment was an effort to grab power using delimitation and gerrymandering.”The Congress unequivocally supports women’s reservation. Parliament unanimously passed the Bill in 2023, it is already part of our Constitution. What the government is proposing now has nothing to do with women’s reservation. This amendment is an attempted power grab using delimitation and gerrymandering. We will not allow ‘hissa chori’ from OBC, Dalit and Adivasi communities by ignoring the caste census data. We will also not allow Southern, North-Eastern, North-Western and smaller states to be treated unfairly,” Rahul postedThe INDIA bloc meeting was held a day before a three-day sitting of Parliament, during which the government is expected to bring amendments to the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023, to do away with the earlier proposed Census exercise.The thought within the government is that as per the earlier provisions of the Act, the reservation for women in the Lok Sabha will be implemented only by 2034, as it requires the conduct of the Census and delimitation of constituencies as per the fresh population data. However, in order to expedite the exercise and allow the reservation by 2029, the Centre plans to rely on the 2011 Census data since Census 2027, which began earlier this month, will end in 2027, and the subsequent delimitation will further take a long time.Wednesday’s meeting was attended by leaders from over 20 parties, including Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh (Congress); TR Baalu (DMK); Derek O’Brien and Sagarika Ghosh (TMC); Sarfaraz Ahmad (JMM); Tejashwi Yadav and Sanjay Yadav (RJD); Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena UBT); Supriya Sule (NCP-Sharad Pawar faction); Sanjay Singh (AAP); Omar Abdullah (NC); Nilotpal Basu (CPM); ET Mohammed Basheer (IUML); Annie Raja and Sandosh Kumar (CPI); NK Premachandran (RSP); Rajaram Singh and Ravi Kumar (CPI-ML); Jose K Mani and Francis George (Kerala Congress factions); D Ravikumar (VCK); and Kapil Sibal (Independent).Senior leaders Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Hemant Soren (JMM), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena UBT), Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI-ML) and Durai Vaiko (MDMK) joined the meeting online.Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the INDIA alliance would participate in discussions in both Houses but oppose the delimitation process being proposed by the government in its present form. He described the proposed exercise as “dangerous” and said the way delimitation had been carried out in J&K and Assam showed that it could become a political tool in the hands of the BJP.On April 16, the government will introduce three Bills — a Constitution Amendment Bill to tweak the 2023 Women’s Reservation Act, a Delimitation Bill, 2026, and a separate law to extend the women’s quota to the UTs.However, it may find the going tough as far as getting these Bills passed, as it does not have the required numbers.For getting these Bills passed, the government requires the support of 362 MPs in the Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, it will need the backing of 164 MPs.However, according to the current strength, the ruling NDA has 293 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 141 MPs in the Rajya Sabha.Meanwhile, BJD president and former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik said he welcomed the Women’s Reservation Bill and the Delimitation Bill but only if the state’s political rights remain intact. In a letter to state CM Mohan Charan Majhi, Patnaik urged him to convene a special session of the Assembly within 48 hours to pass a resolution that not even 0.001 per cent of political rights of Odisha would be allowed to be taken away by other states.