Opposition stalled women’s quota amendment, says Tripura CM

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, April 24, 2026

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Thursday alleged that opposition parties were responsible for the delay in passage of an amendment linked to the women’s reservation law, accusing them of blocking measures aimed at women’s political representation.

Addressing a press conference at the state BJP office here, Saha said the proposed amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Act 2023 could not be passed in Parliament due to opposition resistance.

“The opposition did not allow it to be passed,” he said, adding that the measure was intended to facilitate implementation of the reservation provisions.

The Chief Minister said the law provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies, and termed it a significant step towards enhancing women’s participation in politics.

Referring to the legislative history, he said the proposal for women’s reservation had been pending for decades. He noted that the bill was first introduced in 1996 during the tenure of former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda, and subsequent efforts were made under former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He added that the bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 during the tenure of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but was not cleared by the Lok Sabha at the time.

According to Saha, the law was eventually passed in both Houses of Parliament in 2023 during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said the legislation also provides for reservation of seats for women in constituencies reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, with rotation after each delimitation exercise. The provisions are applicable to directly elected bodies and do not extend to the Rajya Sabha, he added.

The Chief Minister further said that implementation of the law is linked to the completion of the census and delimitation process, and an amendment was brought to enable its rollout in time for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

Saha alleged that opposition parties, including the Indian National Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the INDIA Alliance, did not support the move.

Leaders including Santana Chakma, Mina Rani Sarkar and Antara Dev Sarkar were present at the press conference.

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