Parliament highlights: Women's quota bill falls flat in the Lok Sabha test as it fails to get special majority

Parliament special session LIVE: Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar says BJP wants to take political advantage of women's reservation bill. "I don't know why they are in a hurry. The Congress party is committed to this, and we want proper discussion... The BJP and NDA are doing this to take political advantage... They feel insecure." (ANI)

PM Modi reaches out to MPs in Lok Sabha to vote for passing of women's reservation bill. Taking to X, PM wrote: “Even after so many decades of independence, it is not right that Indian women have such minimal representation in the decision-making process. In just a short while, voting will take place in the Lok Sabha. I urge all political parties... I appeal…Please, after due consideration and with complete sensitivity, take a decision and vote in favor of women's reservation.”

A Raja, DMK MP says country's number 1 and 2 are misguiding the Parliament, hinting at PM Modi and HM Amit Shah. He said that while the amended bill says something else, PM and HM assure that no injustice will happen.

Parliament special session LIVE: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is expected to speak today around 2 pm in the Lower House. Currently, the discussions are going on in LS on women's reservation and delimitation bills.

Parliament special session LIVE: Floor leaders of NDA parties will meet after the voting in the Lok Sabha.

The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned and will reconvene on April 18, 2026 at 11.00 am

Parliament special session LIVE: Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Shiromani Akali Dal MP, said, “They are bulldozing every law, every single law. What they are doing under the guise of women’s reservation, we do not support. Include everything in writing. Everything should be transparent. In a federal democracy, there must be equal representation for all."

“Every time, only during elections, you think about women. Women are shown a carrot, their votes are taken, slogans of ‘nari shakti’ are raised but what have women actually got in the last 75 years?” se added.

“We support 33% reservation, but you are changing the goalpost. First you brought the law, and now you are not allowing the reservation to be implemented. Be transparent. For decades, we have been shown dreams in the air. We have been fighting against men for ages,” she said.

Parliament special session LIVE: On the Women's Reservation Bill, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram says, "... The Congress party and the INDIA bloc are very clear that they are going to vote against this... We are not for women's reservation linked to delimitation, which is completely opaque." (ANI video on X)

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said in the Lok Sabha on Friday that delimitation, or redrawing of constituencies, has been proposed by the government in haste, “the same haste that you showed on demonetisation”.

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Parliament special session LIVE: “Bring the Women’s Reservation Bill in the current strength of the House, don’t tie it to delimitation. Enough of this theatrics. Show some courage,” said TMC's Kalyan Banerjee.

Parliament special session LIVE: Shashi Tharoor advises government, saying they should pass the women's bill but hold back the delimitation one for more discussion.

“Delimitation needs careful deliberation. There are three key fault lines: first, the balance between small and large states; second, between states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala that have met national population goals and northern states that have not. Under delimitation, states that failed to control population could gain greater political weight—we must ask if that is the message we want to send. Third, there is the balance between states driving economic growth and those that are net recipients of central funds,” said Shashi Tharoor.

Parliament special session LIVE: SP chief Akhilesh Yadav launched fresh attack on Centre, on day 2 of the special session, saying BJP is using women's quota bll to create a lok sabha of their choice.

"It is difficult to understand the BJP... When people were told that there would be an SIR, they were doing NRC… Now, under the pretext of women's reservation, they want to create a Lok Sabha of their choice by doing delimitation so that they don't lose… We are in favour of women's reservation… Why do they want to create a constituency of their choice?… Noida has the lowest minimum wages in the country, what are you doing for that?… You are helping some people so that they can earn more profit…", said Yadav to ANI.

DMK MP in Lok Sabha, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, says the opposition would want to know whether the number home minister Amit Shah has given on rise in number of seats in Southern states is based on 2011 census numbers or on what basis. Shah had assured on Thursday that there will be 50 percent increase in seats across states in Lok Sabha after delimitation bill comes into effect.

“Our country is a young country. Harivanshji has spent the most time among the youth. He does not like to have spotlight on him but he tries to understand the country by travelling across India. He did 350 programmes in college and universities in his last term as RS member”: PM Modi

Parliament special session LIVE: PM Modi is speaking in the Rajya Sabha. He congratulates Harivansh Narayan Singh on becoming deputy chair ofthe Upper House. Lauds him for a stellar journalistic career and contribution to civil society as politician.

Parliament special session LIVE: Congress leader KC Venugopal questions how can law minister move a motion to amend women's quota bill without notifying it earlier.

The Women Reservation Act 2023, which gives 33 per cent quota to women in legislatures, came into force late on Thursday to operationalise the proposed amendment being discussed in Parliament.

The law coming into force was essential as its proposed amendment will not have come into effect without that.

Parliament special session LIVE: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla did not receive a warm reception from the opposition. He then asks everyone to calm down and said: “Aaj mahilaon ka din hai”

Parliament special session LIVE: What to expect on Day 2

1. A full house in Lok Sabha today as voting is due today on the bills
2. A heated debate to continue on seat expansion and women's quota bills.
3. Voting at 4 pm today on the three key bills

Parliament special session LIVE: India Bloc MPs met at 10 am today to discuss the strategy ahead of the start of Day 2 of Lok Sabha discussions over amendment of women's quota bill and Delimitation bill. (Photo: Special arrangement)

Parliament special session LIVE: Non-BJP MPs from Telangana protested in the Parliament premises on Friday ahead of the start of the session, demanding apology from Bhartiya Janta Party for ‘disrespecting’ the state. The MPs held ‘BJP must apologise’ and ‘BJP must respect Telangana people’ posters and chanted ‘Respect Telangana’

Parliament special session LIVE: RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav slammed the government and the Delimitation Bill, saying that it wants to destroy the constitution and democracy. Further, he said that the BJP and RSS want to implement their agenda.

"Delimitation has been cleverly brought into this. Both are different things. Women's reservation was passed earlier, and it was passed unanimously. Our demand was that 50% reservation should be given, but OBC women should also be given a reservation. But this did not happen. After passing it, the government says that it will be implemented in 2034. If this had to be done, then why was it not done earlier? The real issue is of delimitation; women's reservation is being brought forward just for show. They want to destroy the constitution and democracy, which is why they are doing this. RSS, BJP want to implement their agenda, we are opposing it," he said. (ANI)

Parliament special session LIVE: BJP leader Boora Narsaiah Goud says that one of the key features of the Delimitation Bill is the allocation of seats in the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). This bill will enable PoK to access their right to vote, and their representatives will be able to attend the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. (ANI)

Parliament special session LIVE: The INDIA bloc MPs are scheduled to hold a meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's chamber in Parliament at 10 am on Friday to chalk out the strategy for the Floor of the House.

This comes as Lok Sabha today is set to continue discussion and vote on the passage of the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, which provides 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and State Assemblies, along with the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 extending it to Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, and the Delimitation Bill, which is set to increase and redraw Lok Sabha constituencies, increasing them up to 850. (ANI)

Parliament special session LIVE: Southern states currently have 129 of 543 seats (23.76%). After delimitation, this rises to 195 of 816 seats (23.87%), meaning no reduction in share.

State-wise: Karnataka goes from 28 to 42 seats, Andhra Pradesh from 25 to 38, Telangana from 17 to 26, Tamil Nadu from 39 to 59, and Kerala from 20 to 30, home minister Amit Shah said.

The remaining 621 seats of the 816 total would be distributed among other states, mainly in north India.

Parliament special session LIVE: The Lok Sabha held a marathon 12-hour session to deliberate on amendments to the Women’s Reservation Bill on Day 1 of the session.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, participated in the debate. Opposition figures such as Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, and Congress leader KC Venugopal also took part in the discussion.

The Congress urged the government to withdraw the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, in its current form and convene an all-party meeting to build consensus.

Owaisi alleged that “if these bills become law, the opposition’s voice will be reduced to nothing in this House.”

Meanwhile, several DMK and Congress MPs argued that southern states would be disproportionately impacted if the bill is passed in its present form.

Shah sought to allay these concerns, stating that while there would be around a 50% increase in seats, the relative share of southern states in the total would also rise.