Chandigarh, April 27, 2026
Haryana Congress lawmakers on Monday refused to participate in the special session of the Vidhan Sabha, saying the Legislative Assembly did not have the power to make laws on delimitation and women’s reservation.
The Congress boycotted the session convened by the Nayab Singh Saini-led government and organised a parallel session outside the House here, demanding that the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in 2023 should be implemented immediately.
The party unanimously reached this decision at a legislative party meeting, presided over by former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Hooda.
The MLAs asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party government was making a mockery of constitutional institutions.
They argued that the issue of women’s reservation fell under the jurisdiction of the Central government, not the state government.
They said that the state government’s convening of this session is unconstitutional.
Interestingly, the Congress MLAs refused to accept the travel allowance and dearness allowance typically provided to legislators during Assembly sessions.
During the parallel Assembly session, two-time Chief Minister Hooda said the party would safeguard constitutional values at all costs and would not allow the Bharatiya Janata Party’s designs to succeed.
He clarified that the state government had convened the special session with an unconstitutional objective, which is why the Congress chose to boycott it.
During a parallel session held outside the Assembly, Congress MLAs passed a unanimous resolution supporting the Women’s Reservation Bill, passed in 2023, and demanded that the government implement it with immediate effect.
They pointed out that neither the 2023 amendment nor the proposed 2026 amendment contains any provision for granting women a reservation in the Rajya Sabha.
In September 2023, both Houses of Parliament had unanimously passed the Women’s Reservation Bill.
The President has also given her assent to this legislation, and it has since become an integral part of the Constitution.
Despite this, the Bharatiya Janata Party has failed to implement it, even three years later, they said.
In fact, they said, the reservation Bill was formally notified only after a 30-month delay.
They added that now, with the specific intent of further delaying the implementation of reservation, the government has deliberately introduced a delimitation Bill in Parliament and, as part of a calculated conspiracy, has linked the issue of women’s reservation to it.(Agency)
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