A group of academics, activists and former bureaucrats on Monday expressed concern about the “complete lack of transparency” regarding the draft legislations on women’s reservation and delimitation that are proposed to be taken up during a special sitting of Parliament.

In a statement, the group of 262 citizens said that it is “shocking that the citizens of the country have been kept completely in the dark about the contents of the bills, their implications and the rationale for bringing these constitutional and legislative amendments”, given its far-reaching ramifications.

On April 2, the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the Budget Session of Parliament will be reconvened on April 16 for three days to introduce “important bills”.

At the time, reports indicated that the session, which was to end on April 2, had been extended to take up amendments to the 2023 Women’s Reservation Act. The Union government did not explain why the session was being extended.

The 2023 Act reserves 33% of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies for women. However, the reservations will be effective only after a population census is conducted, followed by a delimitation exercise.

Delimitation is the process of fixing the boundaries of electoral constituencies. Article 82 of the Constitution states that after every census is completed, the allocation of Lok Sabha seats to each state must be adjusted based on changes in its population.

The composition of the current Lok Sabha is based on the 1971 census. According to the 84th Amendment Act of 2001, the constituency boundaries were frozen until the first census after 2026.

The population census, which began on April 1, is expected to conclude in 2027.

During the reconvened session that will begin on April 16, the Union government is planning to introduce bills to amend the 2023 Act, delinking the 33% quota for women from the 2027 census and opting instead to conduct a delimitation exercise, The Indian Express had reported.

Earlier, the Congress had said that the Union government was proposing to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha by 50%. The constituencies in each state are also proposed to be increased by 50%, he said.

If delimitation is carried out in this manner, the strength of the Lok Sabha would increase to 816 from 543, with about 270 reserved for women. However, the proportion of the seats a state has out of the total constituencies in the House would remain unchanged.

Citing media reports, the citizens’ group on Monday said that the Union Cabinet had reportedly cleared three bills to ostensibly pave the way for 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies from 2029, a delimitation bill and a separate bill to extend the quota to Union Territories.

“The draft legislations reportedly include a proposal for a uniform 50% increase in seats in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, raising the Lok Sabha’s strength from 543 to 816 and total Assembly seats from 4,123 to 6,186,” their statement said.

It added that the proposed laws will “fundamentally re-shape India’s electoral democracy and impact every voter” in the country.

The citizens also noted that details about the proposed legislations were “reaching people only through media reports based on ‘sources’”.

The statement said: “This is a flagrant violation of peoples’ fundamental right to information and the principles laid out in the Pre-legislative Consultation Policy.”

The 2014 policy requires ministries to publish draft legislation in the public domain for at least 30 days before being introduced in Parliament.

Noting the “tremendous impact” the proposed legislations will have on democracy, the citizens demanded that the Union government make the text of the bills public immediately and ensure it is publicised in multiple languages.

Their statement also sought that the draft bills be put through “robust” public consultation, in line with the Pre-legislative Consultation Policy.

“While we wholeheartedly support reservation for women in legislature, and many of us have been part of campaigns demanding the same, we strongly oppose the secretive, non- democratic manner in which the proposed legislations are being brought,” the statement added.

The group also said that it was a “profound irony, and a grave disservice to the democratic process, to introduce legislation for women’s empowerment while simultaneously excluding women” from the conversation.

The statement said: “A reform of such historic magnitude deserves transparent debate, public scrutiny and the inclusion of diverse voices to ensure it truly empowers people, rather than being rushed through in the midst of ongoing state elections as a political tool.”

After Rijiju had announced the decision to extend the Budget Session, Opposition parties claimed that the intention of the Union government to introduce amendments to the law during the Assembly elections was to gain electoral benefits.

While polling in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry concluded on April 9, the election campaign in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal would be underway on April 16.

Tamil Nadu will hold the polls in a single phase on April 23. The voting in West Bengal will take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes in all states will take place on May 4.