Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday described the failure of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha as a major setback for the country, blaming the Congress-led INDIA bloc for blocking the legislation related to women’s reservation and delimitation.

Speaking after the Budget Session, Rijiju said the government made consistent efforts to build consensus but fell short of the required two-thirds majority needed to pass a constitutional amendment. He noted that while the government had a majority, it was not enough to secure the bill’s passage, though other legislative work was completed successfully.

Defending the link between women’s reservation and delimitation, Rijiju called it a necessary democratic step. He argued that unequal constituency sizes must be corrected to ensure fair representation, pointing out the large variation in voter numbers across constituencies. He also highlighted that delimitation has been frozen until 2026, making a constitutional amendment essential.

Rejecting Opposition claims that the government intended to delay women’s reservation, he said the connection between reservation, census, and delimitation was already established in earlier legislation. He accused the Opposition of misleading the public and deliberately obstructing the bill for political reasons.

Rijiju further alleged that despite multiple attempts by the government to hold discussions, Congress leaders avoided meaningful engagement and chose not to participate in meetings. The bill received 298 votes in favour and 230 against, failing to meet the special majority requirement. Following this, the Lok Sabha Speaker declared it defeated, and related bills were put on hold. Rijiju reiterated the government’s commitment to women’s empowerment, stating that efforts to implement reservation would continue and criticizing the Opposition for what he described as denying women their rightful representation.