New Delhi

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday tore into the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that it wants to delay the caste-based census because if conducted, the Centre will have to release the caste-based data and implement caste-based reservations for the backward communities.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Yadav stressed that the Samajwadi Party welcomes the Women's Reservation Bill, which will reserve 1/3rd seats for women in the Parliament, but raised questions on the "motives" of the government in the rush of its implementation.

He said that the BJP is "transforming women into slogans."

"Samajwadi Party is in favour of the Women's Reservation Bill. We have always worked towards the growth of women. But the Bhartiya Janata Party is trying to turn a woman into a slogan. BJP must answer out of 21 States they are ruling, how many of the States have women Chief Ministers? Even your Delhi CM does not have the rights of a Chief Minister; she is a 'half Chief Minister'. I want to know why there is a hurry?" he asked.

He said that the BJP wants to delay the caste-based census. He accused the BJP of using women to play games and flagged ulterior motives behind the implementation of the Bill. He underlined that the BJP wants to avoid the caste-based census to avoid sharing caste-based data into public domain, which will compel them to give caste-based reservations to backward communities.

"The truth is that the BJP wants to delay the caste-based census. BJP's electoral deception has been shattered. When we caught the Form 7 and SIR scams cutting out voters' names, the BJP came up with these Bills. This time, the BJP is using women to play games, but it won't succeed," he said.

"The haste the BJP is demonstrating in the name of this amendment is driven by an ulterior motive. The BJP wants to avoid conducting a census. This is because if a census were to be conducted, they would be compelled to release caste-based data and, consequently, implement caste-based reservations for the backward communities. This constitutes a massive conspiracy on the part of the BJP," he added.

Earlier today, the Constitution (131 Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Delimitation Bill, 2026, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 were introduced in the Lok Sabha after the Opposition pressed for a division against the move to introduce three Bills, instead of a voice vote.

As per the final division, there were a total of 251 AYES and 185 NOES out of the total 333 votes.

The Lok Sabha primarily uses voice voting, but if challenged, a "division" is called, where the Automatic Vote Recorder (Ayes, Noes, Abstain) is utilised.

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The government has convened a special sitting of Parliament on April 16,17,18 to pass the amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.

It seeks opposition support for passing the amendment bill to implement the women's reservation bill from the 2029 Lok Sabha polls on the basis of the 2011 census.