3 min readApr 16, 2026 07:00 AM IST First published on: Apr 16, 2026 at 07:00 AM ISTThe three bills the Narendra Modi government will bring to an extended Budget session — to operationalise the long promised one-third reservation for women and to expand the number of seats in Parliament and state legislatures, while paving the way for a fresh delimitation of constituencies — add up to a move as consequential as it is audacious. If there is one thing the Modi government, now in its third term, has made into its calling card, it is its unflagging appetite for large-scale change and disruption: The move to abrogate Article 370 then, the women’s Bill now, or demonetisation in between. In a diverse democracy, however, with embedded inequalities on uneven ground, such large changes, even when they are widely acceptable, and especially if they are not, require long conversations. In the present moment, the problem is that the government’s moves have taken on the character of an ambush, or, with an eye on the election calendar, a bid to corner its opponents.It is enormously welcome that women’s reservation is finally being implemented — the world’s largest democracy was also the first to acknowledge the power of that representation. It is also welcome that the freeze on Lok Sabha and assembly seats will be lifted without disturbing the inter-state balance — the distribution will reportedly keep to the template settled on in 1971, despite the population skew that has only widened since. In effect, the proportion remaining the same means that the north-south faultline is not stoked, while the seat expansion arguably ensures that insecurities of male legislators with regard to the women’s quota are blunted. But there are unresolved questions and anxieties, and in the search for answers, data will be key. Therefore, the question is: With a new Census underway, why must the new delimitation process — for an election in 2029 — follow a Census from 18 years before, disregarding changes that have come about due to population shifts or growth? Why is the electoral map of the country being redrawn without adequate deliberation and a wider consultation on their design?AdvertisementThe argument against haste is not just technical or procedural. As the EC’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls shows, it can mean the difference between inclusion and exclusion, right and wrong, trust and distrust. In West Bengal, a desirable clean-up that should have helped the vulnerable and allowed time for corrections and appeals has become an exercise that threatens to disenfranchise lakhs of voters. The delimitation process — of which the CEC will be a part — will shape the contours of the new constituencies after the addition of seats, on the basis of which women’s reservation will come into effect. That’s far too enduring a project to be held hostage to any short-term political or electoral deadline. The government has the big ideas. It must now start a dialogue that includes the Opposition on the best way to implement them. The special session of Parliament should be the beginning of that process, not its final staging ground.