The fraught issue of 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will come up for discussion in Parliament once more on Thursday, with the government set to move for implementing the quota from the 2029 election cycle. The government is confident of the numbers it needs to pass the Bills.Ahead of the three-day session called from Thursday to pilot three draft legislations, the government assured an agitated Opposition of fair play and balance.”The proposed Bills are absolutely balanced, well-thought-of and will take care of the aspiration of every state. There is no scope for any criticism whatsoever. I have reached out to all parties on the matter. Everyone is sounding positive about the agenda,” said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju today after the Congress-led Opposition called women’s reservation issue a cloak for delimitation.The Opposition bloc believes that the intended delimitation and proposal to raise the strength of the Lok Sabha to 850 MPs will benefit the Hindi heartland states over southern, northwestern and some eastern states.The Opposition is against the government’s proposal of delimitation based on the 2011 Census. They want proportional representation for every state and have said 33 per cent quota for women be rolled out within the current 543 MP strength of the House.The Opposition says that the proposed Bills will use the 2011 population to delimit constituencies and this will create a federal skew in favour of northern states and against states that did well on family planning.Government sources, however, said seats would be raised proportionally.”There will be a 50 per cent increase in current seats for every state. No injustice will come to any state. The Bill’s language is clear. Wrong interpretation should be avoided,” top official sources said, adding that Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal would clarify the position when he pilots the principal Bill — The Constitution 131st Amendment Bill 2026 tomorrow.Rijiju further said the agenda had been delayed for nearly 30 years (the first draft of the Bill came in 1996).”We cannot wait another year or decade to clear this. It will be extremely painful,” he said.The Constitution 131st Amendment Bill-2026 seeks to amend existing constitutional provisions to allow delimitation of constituencies based on the 2011 Census and to raise the Lok Sabha seats to up to 815 for the states and up to 35 for UTs with assemblies.This will take the overall strength of the House from 543 to up to 850.The structure of the present Lok Sabha was frozen by the Constitution 84th Amendment law in 2001 and its 543 seats are based on the 1971 Census. The 84th constitutional amendment also froze any delimitation exercise in India until 2026. This freeze will also be lifted by way of Bills in the sitting convening tomorrow.The government meanwhile exuded confidence regarding the passage of Bills.To pass a Constitution Amendment Bill under Article 368, it must be passed in each House of Parliament by a special majority defined as a majority of the total membership of that House and a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting.In the Lok Sabha, where the simple majority is 272, the BJP-led NDA has 292 MPs. In the Rajya Sabha, where the halfway mark is 123, the NDA has 141 MPs. The challenge for the government will be managing a special majority.