New Delhi

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday asked the opposition to stop spreading rumours on the proposed delimitation bill. He said that the opposition should not "misinterpret or misconstrue" the good objective by raising some other issues.

"I have one appeal to make to the opposition parties. Please don't spread rumours on delimitation. On the pretext of delimitation, don't oppose the women's reservation. I have a very specific appeal to all the opposition parties not to spread rumours and mislead the people of South India, and also not to misinterpret or misconstrue the good objective by raising some other issues. Don't make some excuse to defeat the women's reservation," Rijiju told reporters here.

"I am very happy that today is a historic day. This bill is a historic piece of legislation that will forever be remembered as the Parliament of India has taken this historic decision to provide 33 % reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and in the assemblies of different states. I am very confident that all the parties are going to support and to ensure that the long-pending women's reservation doesn't get defeated," he added.

The Constitutional Amendment bill's implementation is tied to a population-based revision of constituencies based on the 2011 census. It proposes delimitation - a wider political overhaul - aiming to change the size and composition of state legislative assemblies and Lok Sabha.

The opposition to the proposed delimitation bill has been mounting for a long time and has escalated after the Centre's recent approval of draft amendment bills to operationalise the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023.

The opposition has also objected to haste in convening a special Parliament sitting amid the election season.

The government is planning to implement the women's reservation ahead of the 2029 General Elections by bringing in an amendment to the 2023 Act and a constitutional amendment to delink the delimitation process from the 2027 census.

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The government has proposed to increase the number of seats in the House to 850, with 815 seats proposed for the States and the remaining 35 for the Union Territories. The Lok Sabha has 543 seats at present.

The Centre has called a special sitting of Parliament from April 16 to 18.