Vaishali makes history, wins Candidates 2026 GM R Vaishali etched her name in the record books as she beat Kateryna Lagno and won the Women’s Candidates 2026. She became the Women’s World Championship Challenger and will face reigning world champion Ju Wenjun. She is also the second Indian woman after Koneru Humpy (2011) to feature in title match | Michal Walusza/FIDE hyderabad l Thursday l April 16, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE CITY EDITION CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Oppn to vote against Constitution amendment bill on delimitation Bills to be debated in Lok Sabha today seek to expedite rollout of 33% women’s reservation CM in Delhi, will highlight ‘hybrid model’ P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Ahead of the three-day special session of Parliament, Opposition parties decided to vote against the proposed Constitution amendment bill on delimitation, Congress president Mallikar jun Kharg e said on Wednesday. Top Opposition leaders had met at Kharge’s residence here to discuss strategy on the women’s reservation law and the proposed delimitation amendment. Kharge stressed that the Opposition has always supported women’s reservation in Parliament, but was concerned about the manner in which the bill is being brought. “It is politically motivated. Just to gag and suppress Opposition parties, the government is doing this,” Kharge said after the meeting. “We are continuously supporting women’s reservation. We are insisting that the earlier amendment that was passed, be implemented. They (the BJPled government) are playing tricks with delimitation. Therefore, all parties have taken a decision unitedly to oppose this bill,” he added. Besides Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, other leaders at the meeting included DMK’s TR Baalu, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, Trinamool’s Sagarika Ghosh, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant, NCP-SCP’s Supriya Sule, SP chief Akhilesh Ex p r ess N e ws S e rv i c e @ Hyderabad Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge addresses the press after a meeting of Opposition leaders on the special Parliament session, in Delhi on Wednesday | Shekhar yadav Yadav (joining virtually), CPI’s Annie Raja, CPI-M’s Nilotpal Basu, Independent MP Kapil Sibal, IUML’s E T Mohd Bashir and RSP’s N K Premchandran, apart from Congress g e n e r a l s e c r e t a r i e s KC Ve n u g o p a l a n d J a i r a m Ramesh. Leaders from Kerala and Tamil Nadu said that the women’s reservation Act should be implemented within the existing framework of 543 seats. Later, in a video message, Rahul said the Congress will not allow the women’s reservation bill to be implemented on the 18 hours of debate LS’s Business Advisory Committee has allocated 18 hours for the debate, which may run into Friday. Arjun Ram Meghwal will introduce two bills, while Amit Shah will introduce the third one basis of the 2011 Census as there is no data on backward communities in it. “Congress party unequivocally supports women’s reservation. Parliament unanimously passed the bill in 2023, it is already part of our Constitution,” he said, adding, “what the government is proposing now has nothing to do with women’s reservation. This amendment is an attempted power grab using delimitation and gerrymandering.” “We will not allow ‘Hissa Chori’ from OBC, Dalit and Adivasi communities by ignoring the caste census data. We will also not allow Southern, North Eastern, North Western and smaller states to be treated unfairly he warned. ,” Rahul cited his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018 in which he had demanded the implementation of the women’s bill from the 2019 general elections.  P7 A day after writing an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposing the increase in Lok Sabha seats solely on a prorata basis, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy reached New Delhi on Wednesday to garner support for his “hybrid model” proposal at the national level. In Delhi, the chief minister — who has been the most active among leaders from South India in opposing the proposed model of delimitation — plans to meet leaders from various parties. On the first day of the special Parliament session, he is set to visit Parliament, where he is likely to meet MPs from likeminded parties, including DMK, CPM, CPI and others representing souther n states. Sources said that he is also expected to meet leaders from smaller states such as Punjab and Delhi. Revanth will argue that delimitation on a pro-rata basis would result in southern states losing political influence. The chief minister has proposed a hybrid model to increase Lok Sabha seats.  continued on P4 SCs, STs most backward: SEEPC survey M a nd a R a v i nd e r R e dd y head count The Socio, Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEPC) survey has revealed that Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are the most backward sections in the state. BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar released data from the SEEPC survey and the IEWG report here on Wednesday . According to the report, SCs are the most backward with a Composite Backwardness Index (CBI) score of 95, followed by BCs with a score of 86. The report finds that 135 out of 242 castes, accounting for 67% of the population, are more back- Top 10 castes (population wise) Madiga 10.3% Mudiraj 7.4% Lambada/Banjara 6.8% Yadav 5.7% Reddy 4.8% Goud 4.6% Mala 4.1% Munnuru Kapu 3.9% Padmashali 3.3% Rajaka 2.8% @ Hyderabad ward than the state average. It states that 99% of STs, 97% of SCs and 71% of BCs fall under the backward category . The report adds that this chal- Asim Munir in Tehran to draw it back to talks table agencies Amid efforts to extend the ceasefire between the US and Iran, a Pakistani delegation led by Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir reached Tehran on Wednesday, carrying a US mes- day sage to the Iranian leadership. Munir is accompanied by Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, the InterServices Public Relations, the media wing of the military, said in a statement. “Field Marshal Asim Munir... and Mr Mohsin Naqvi, Interior Minister, along with 47 the delegation, arrive at Tehran as part of the ongoing mediation efforts,” it said. Iran’s state-run TV reported that the purpose of the visit is to deliver a US message to Iranian leadership and to plan the next round of negotiations. In an interview that aired on Wednesday, Donald Trump said the war was “very close to over”. Earlier, reports quoting regional officials said the two countries had reached an “in principle agreement” to extend the truce. However, Washington has denied the reports.  P9 Composite Backwardness Caste Category Score Dakkali SC 116 Beda SC 113 Nakkala ST 112 Sindollu SC 112 Turka Muslim BC-E 111 Pichakuntlollu BC-A 110 Pakeerla BC-E 110 Masthi SC 109 Fakheer Muslim BC-E 108 lenges the notion of uniform development and highlights the persistence of caste-based inequality in socio-economic outcomes.  continued on P4 express read Indian team to visit US next week for trade talks New Delhi: An Indian delegation will be in the US from April 20 to 22 to take forward negotiations on the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said. This will be the first such engagement between the two sides after the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s reciprocal tariffs | P8 KTR: Delink delimitation from women’s quota bill Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Wednesday demanded that delimitation of seats should not be linked to the women’s quota and must be taken up only after the completion of the Census. He said that the BRS would support delimitation as long as no injustice was done to southern states | P4