NEW DELHI — Speculation is mounting in the national capital that the Union government is preparing to convene a three-day special session of Parliament from September 18 to 20 to reintroduce a revised Constitution Amendment Bill. The proposed legislation links parliamentary delimitation with the implementation of a 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha, with political observers anticipating a Union Cabinet reshuffle shortly after the conclusion of the session.
The potential move follows the non-prorogation of the Monsoon Session, which was adjourned on August 13. By adjourning the House without formal presidential prorogation, the executive retains the procedural leeway to reconvene Parliament without issuing fresh summoning notifications. The government had previously piloted the delimitation package during a special session in April, where it failed to achieve the mandatory two-thirds majority of members present and voting amid unified resistance from opposition parties.
In the intervening months, the ruling National Democratic Alliance has sought to bolster its legislative numbers in the lower house. While the government has secured the backing of six Shiv Sena (UBT) parliamentarians, parliamentary managers are awaiting a formal determination by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla regarding a pending merger application involving 20 rebel Trinamool Congress lawmakers who aligned with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India. Concurrently, central emissaries continue consultative engagements with southern regional parties, including the DMK and VCK, following demands from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay for statutory guarantees ensuring that redrawn boundaries do not compromise southern representation.
The legislative initiative remains contentious, with the Congress leadership urging the Prime Minister to maintain the existing Lok Sabha strength for another 25 years. The initial iteration of the delimitation framework envisioned expanding the total number of Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 850 by applying an across-the-board 50 per cent increase to existing state allocations. In response to concerns over demographic imbalances, the government is reportedly exploring statutory protections within the reworked draft to safeguard the relative legislative weight of states that successfully stabilized population growth.
