Chandigarh: Cong, BJP trade barbs over women’s quota

On Sunday, the Congress and the BJP traded barbs over the women’s reservation issue in Chandigarh. The Chandigarh Pradesh Congress Committee accused the BJP of misleading the public on women’s reservation and demanded its immediate implementation without conditions. BJP senior leader Kiran Choudhry criticized the Congress, stating that despite decades in power it failed to ensure meaningful political participation for women and alleging past attempts to pass the women’s reservation Bill were often introduced without intent to secure its passage. Mahila Congress president Nandita Hooda said the party would launch a mass outreach campaign to counter what she termed as BJP’s ‘false narrative’. Lucky, a Chandigarh Congress spokesperson, said, ‘If the BJP’s intentions are clear, it should implement women’s reservation immediately on the basis of existing seats, without any conditions.’ Lucky also highlighted Congress leaders Indira Gandhi, Pratibha Patil and Meira Kumar as milestones in women’s leadership and asserted that the party had consistently worked towards women’s empowerment.

A Constitution amendment bill to implement 33% reservation for women in legislatures and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 by 2029 was defeated in the Lok Sabha on April 18, 2026.