Meghalaya could have gained an additional Lok Sabha seat — with guaranteed women's representation — had the three amendment bills brought by the NDA government in Parliament been passed, BJP Meghalaya Prabhari Anil Antony said on Monday.
Antony described the failure of the bills as a missed opportunity, arguing that every state in India, including Meghalaya, stood to benefit from both expanded parliamentary representation and an assured place for women in the legislative framework.
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Under the proposed framework, Meghalaya's Lok Sabha representation would have increased from two seats to three.
Antony noted that with three MPs, the structure would have ensured that at least one seat in the state was always held by a woman — making women's representation an automatic feature of the state's parliamentary presence rather than an aspiration.
Antony outlined the three pieces of legislation moved during the special session: the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026; the Delimitation Bill, 2026; and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
He said the combined measures were designed to ensure that women — who constitute more than 50 per cent of the population — received equality and fairness in democratic processes.
However, he alleged that members of the INDIA alliance, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party, TMC, and DMK, sabotaged the bills during the two-day session, leading to their failure.
Tracing the legislative history of women's reservation in India, Antony argued that Congress's opposition was not a new development.
He pointed to 1996, when the then Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led government first introduced the women's reservation bill, claiming that Congress withheld support and contributed to its failure — despite providing outside support to the government at the time. He added that the bill faced similar setbacks on multiple subsequent occasions.
Antony further noted that when the Modi government passed the women's reservation bill in 2023, Congress supported it only because the NDA had a clear majority and obstruction was no longer a viable option. That 2023 version, he said, linked implementation to the completion of delimitation and the census — a process expected to conclude by 2027 — meaning the provisions would not have come into effect until 2034.
Antony said the recent special session was specifically aimed at removing that linkage, with the goal of making women's reservation operational by 2029.
He alleged that Congress and INDIA alliance members again "created a false narrative" to prevent the bills from passing.
Citing the Union government's stated position, he said the Home Minister had clarified that provisions were being considered to ensure no state would lose existing Lok Sabha seats, with a 50 per cent increase in seats to be implemented equitably while maintaining the current composition of Parliament.
For Meghalaya specifically, Antony reiterated, this would have meant a move from two to three Lok Sabha seats — with women's representation built into that expansion by design.