LINKING DELIMITATION WITH WOMEN RESERVATION INVITES DEFEAT
In a major setback to the government, a Constitution Amendment Bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 was defeated on Friday, with the ruling dispensation asserting that the struggle to give the rights to women will continue.
While 298 members voted in support of the bill in Lok Sabha, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the bill required 352 votes for a two-third majority.
According to the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to 816 from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in state and Union territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi were among those present during the voting. This was for the first time a bill under the Modi government was defeated in Parliament.
After the legislation was defeated during the voting, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House for the day and announced that it would meet again on Saturday. The three-day special sitting was convened from April 16 to 18 for getting the Parliament’s approval to the bill.
Govt withdraws bill
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju withdrew the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Delimitation Bill, 2026, following the defeat of the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha. He affirmed that the government will continue its efforts to secure rights for women.
Rijiju said the Opposition lost a historic opportunity to honour the country’s women but the Modi government’s struggle to give rights to women will continue.
Later, Rijiju told reporters that Congress is an “anti-women” party and the country’s women will never forgive them.
“The Congress celebrated after the bill was defeated which clearly shows that it is an anti-women party,” he said. After the bill was defeated, Union Home Minister Amit Shah blamed Congress, TMC, DMK, and Samajwadi Party for not allowing its passage. He said after the bill was defeated, the opposition parties were celebrating and raising victory cries which is beyond imagination and condemnable.
“Now, the women of the country will not get the 33 per cent reservation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, which was their right. The Congress and its allies have done this not for the first time, but repeatedly. Their mindset is neither in the interest of women nor of the country,” he said in a post on X in Hindi.
Shah said this “insult to the women of the country will not stop here but will travel far and wide”.
“The opposition will have to face the wrath of women not only in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, but at every level, in every election, and at every place,” he said.
“We will not take rest till we ensure that the country’s women get reservation in legislatures,” he said.
Earlier, in a bid to get the bill passed, while replying to the two-day long debate, Shah assured the opposition of an official amendment within an hour mentioning a 50 per cent increase in Lok Sabha seats in all states and Union territories if the opposition parties support the women’s reservation bill. However, the opposition did not budge.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said a united opposition has defeated the BJP-led government’s “nefarious attempt” to carry out delimitation by using half of India’s population as a shield to harm the country’s democracy. Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the Constitution amendment bill brought by the government to tweak the women’s quota law was an attack on the Constitution, which the opposition has defeated.
Rahul likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a “magician” who had been “caught” and brought the bills to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha in “panic” to change the electoral map of India and to send the message “again” that he is “pro-women.”
BJP women MPs protest outside Parl: Women MPs of the BJP on Friday held a protest in the Parliament House complex against the Congress and its allies after the Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures from 2029 and increase the strength of the Lok Sabha was defeated in the Lower House.
Holding placards and raising slogans of “India will not tolerate this insult to women”, they alleged that the opposition, led by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, deliberately blocked a measure aimed at enhancing women’s representation in legislatures.
Union minister Shobha Karandlaje said the move has “insulted” crores of women awaiting political empowerment. “Today, 65 crore women were waiting. We have not been defeated, but the cause of women’s representation has been defeated in Parliament.