- The Constitution Amendment Bill on women's quota was defeated in the Lok Sabha
- The government will not pursue the Delimitation Bill or Union Territories Laws Bill
- The other bills were needed to implement the women's quota in certain Union Territories
The Constitution Amendment Bill to tweak the women's quota law has been defeated in the Lok Sabha after division of votes. The government will not go ahead with the two others - the Delimitation Bill, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill.
One of the other two bills would have been needed to implement the women's quota law - had it cleared the Lok Sabha - in the Union Territories of Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu and Kashmir.
A Constitution amendment bill can be passed only by a two-third majority of those present in the house at the time of voting. Going by current strength, the NDA did not have the required numbers for getting the Constitution amendment bill passed.
The special three-day parliament session looked to amend the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, commonly known as the Women's Reservation Act, mandating 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Had it sailed through, it would be brought for implementation in 2029.
The amendments also sought to raise the number of Lok Sabha seats to 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 general elections, following a delimitation exercise to be carried out based on the last published census.
The Opposition had objected to all the amendments right from the beginning.
The proposed bill got 298 MPs voting in its favour and 230 against. The NDA needed to shore up support from other parties or make some of them abstain from voting to have its way. The NDA has the support of 293 members in the Lok Sabha, which is 54 per cent of the house; the Opposition has 233 MPs.
In the upper house, however, the NDA has 141 members in their favour, which is 58 per cent of the upper house, and the Opposition has 83 MPs in support.
Yesterday, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik had appealed to all MPs from Odisha to jointly fight for the protection of the state's political and economic interests, which he said are under "threat" due to the Delimitation Bill.
While seeking the support of all parties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a fervent appeal in the Lok Sabha, saying he will get all the credit in case the Opposition opposed the bills, but was ready to give a "blank cheque" to all in case everyone supported the legislation.
