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Parliament highlights: Women's quota bill falls flat in the Lok Sabha test as it fails to get special majority
Parliament special session highlights: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while replying to the debate on the Women's Reservation Bill and the Delimitation Bill in the Lok Sabha, said, “Those opposing delimitation are actually opposing an increase in SC/ST seats.”
- 9:21 PM IST, Apr 17Amt Shah hits out at opposition
- 7:36 PM IST, Apr 17Delimitation bill gets 278 votes
- 7:32 PM IST, Apr 17Delimitation bill fails floor test in Lok Sabha
- 7:22 PM IST, Apr 17Lok Sabha voting on constitutional amendments
- 7:19 PM IST, Apr 17PM Modi arrives to vote in Lok Sabha
- 7:07 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah's southern math
- 7:02 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah says Congress never had an OBC Prime Minister; the BJP gave Modi.
- 6:55 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah's assurance
- 6:53 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah on caste census
- 6:49 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah attacks Congress
- 6:38 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah blasts North-South divide argument
- 6:35 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah says delimitation must for each vote to have ‘equal value’
- 6:33 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah cites the number of women speaking in the debate
- 6:29 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah says delimitation will lead to rationalisation of voters in every constituency
- 6:22 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah defends Women’s Bill, hits out at opposition
- 6:21 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah gives reason for the amendments to women's quota law
- 6:17 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah says those opposing delimitation are against SC/ST representation
- 6:13 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah says opposition opposing women's reservation
- 6:04 PM IST, Apr 17Congress leader P Chidambaram says Delimitation Bill will be defeated
- 6:02 PM IST, Apr 17Lok Sabha proceedings extended
- 5:28 PM IST, Apr 17Amit Shah to reply to women's reservation bill discussion soon
- 5:21 PM IST, Apr 17Chirag Paswan says Rahul Gandhi ‘lowered the dignity of the post of Leader of Opposition’
- 4:57 PM IST, Apr 17JMM MP Mahua Maji questions timing of discussing Women's Reservation Bill
- 4:48 PM IST, Apr 17Congress defends Rahul Gandhi's jibe on PM Modi
- 4:40 PM IST, Apr 17Kangana Ranaut calls Rahul Gandhi's speach ‘headache’
- 4:35 PM IST, Apr 17BJP's Suvendu Adhikari rejects Mamata Banerjee's ‘division of Bengal’ claim, calls delimitation constitutional
- 4:23 PM IST, Apr 17Nirmala Sitharaman shares PM’s appeal on Women's Reservation bill
- 4:18 PM IST, Apr 17SAD opposes delimitation bill
- 4:14 PM IST, Apr 17Rahul Gandhi on his ‘magician’ remark
- 4:05 PM IST, Apr 17Hema Malini condems Rahul Gandhi
- 4:00 PM IST, Apr 17Farooq Abdullah opposes the delimitation bill
- 3:49 PM IST, Apr 17Mamata Banerjee says BJP using women's quota bill as front to pass Delimitation Bill that will break India
- 3:15 PM IST, Apr 17Rajnath Singh condemns Rahul Gandhi's jibe
- 3:13 PM IST, Apr 17Rahul Gandhi's indirect jibe at PM Modi
- 3:08 PM IST, Apr 17Rahul Gandhi gives “assurance” to southern states
- 3:05 PM IST, Apr 17Rahul Gandhi's fierce opposition to delimitation
- 3:01 PM IST, Apr 17Ruckus continues in Lok Sabha
- 2:59 PM IST, Apr 17Kiren Rijiju trades barbs with Rahul Gandhi
- 2:57 PM IST, Apr 17Rahul Gandhi's allegations
- 2:55 PM IST, Apr 17Ruckus erupts in Lok Sabha
- 2:52 PM IST, Apr 17Rahul Gandhi alleges delimitation being used to alter electoral map
- 2:50 PM IST, Apr 17Rahul Gandhi says ‘Samvidhan over Manuwaad’
- 2:45 PM IST, Apr 17Rahul Gandhi says women are a driving force in our national perspective
- 2:43 PM IST, Apr 17Rahul Gandhi invokes grandmother Indira Gandhi
- 2:41 PM IST, Apr 17Rahul Gandhi speaks in Lok Sabha
- 2:30 PM IST, Apr 17“This is a great opportunity to serve the women power of the country, to honor them.”
- 2:16 PM IST, Apr 17Parliament special session LIVE: DK Shivakumar says BJP using women's quota bill for political gains
- 1:51 PM IST, Apr 17PM Modi appeals to Lok Sabha MPs to vote for women's quota bill
- 1:43 PM IST, Apr 17DMK's Raja says PM Modi, Amit Shah misguiding Parliament
- 1:38 PM IST, Apr 17Parliament special session LIVE: Rahul Gandhi to speak shortly in Lok Sabha on bills
- 1:22 PM IST, Apr 17Parliament special session LIVE: NDA meeting after LS voting today in bills
- 1:20 PM IST, Apr 17Rajya Sabha adjourned
- 1:18 PM IST, Apr 17‘You only think about women during elections’: Akali Dal leader slams new bill
- 12:57 PM IST, Apr 17Karti Chidambaram says INDIA bloc will vote against bills
- 12:45 PM IST, Apr 17Tharoor says hurry shown in passing Delimitation Bill reminds of Demonitisation
- 12:19 PM IST, Apr 17‘Stop the theatrics’, TMC's Kalyan Banerjee tells BJP
- 12:01 PM IST, Apr 17Tharoor backs women's bill, but says let's hold back delimitation
- 11:58 AM IST, Apr 17Akhilesh Yadav says BJP wants Lok Sabha of their choice
- 11:35 AM IST, Apr 17Kanimozhi says there is confusion over number of seats increased in state post the passing of bills
- 11:28 AM IST, Apr 17Harivansh ji spent most of his time among youth, says PM
- 11:23 AM IST, Apr 17PM Modi welcomes Harivansh Narayan Singh to Rajya Sabha
- 11:11 AM IST, Apr 17Opposition opens proceedings, raises legal anomaly concerns on amendment of women's quota bill
- 11:04 AM IST, Apr 17Parliament special session LIVE: Speaker starts proceedings with "Aaj mahilaon ka din hai' statement
- 11:01 AM IST, Apr 17Proceedings begin in Lok Sabha
- 10:55 AM IST, Apr 17India Bloc leaders meet ahead of session
- 10:48 AM IST, Apr 17Telangana MPs protest
- 10:40 AM IST, Apr 17'Delimitation cleverly brought into Women's Reservation Amendment Bill', says Tejaswi Yadav
- 10:11 AM IST, Apr 17We will get back PoK after Delimitaion Bill is passed, says BJP leader
- 9:57 AM IST, Apr 17INDIA bloc MPs meet to chalk out floor strategy over Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill
- 9:39 AM IST, Apr 17South’s share stays near 24% despite seat rise
- 9:26 AM IST, Apr 17All that happened on day 1?
- 9:05 AM IST, Apr 17Lok Sabha to consider Delimitation Bill, Amendments to Women Reservation Bill for passing today
Parliament special session highlights: The 131st constitutional amendment regarding the women's quota in Parliament seats has fallen flat. This happened despite the bill receiving more yes votes than no votes. Just hours before Lok Sabha voted against the amendments in the women's reservation law in the Lower House, PM Narendra Modi reached out to all Members of Parliament, appealing to them to vote for 'women power of the country'....Read More
NDA floor leaders will meet after voting in the Lok Sabha on the 3 key bills introduced on Thursday in Parliament, including the women's reservation and delimitation bills. DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi said that the opposition wants clarity from home minister Amit Shah on the calculations he provided on Thursday on how many seats will be increased in the Southern states. Shah had said that 50 per cent of the seats will be increased across states in India.
The decision on three key bills, including increasing the women’s quota in Parliament and expanding the number of seats, will be taken today at 4 pm in the Lok Sabha, but only after several more hours of debate.
The three bills tabled in Parliament on Thursday by law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal are the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026; the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026; and the Delimitation Bill, 2026. These bills propose to increase the size of the Lok Sabha, enable delimitation based on the 2011 Census, and allow reservation for women to be implemented based on this delimitation. The Union Territories Laws Bill provides for similar provisions for Puducherry, Delhi, and Jammu & Kashmir.
Also Read | Lok Sabha seats for all states to be increased by 50%, says law minister; 272 reserved for women
The Lok Sabha held a marathon 12-hour session to discuss amendments to the women’s reservation bill, including removing the requirement to implement the law only after a fresh census is conducted. As per the final division, 251 members voted in favour and 185 against, out of a total of 333 votes. With this majority, all three bills, including the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Delimitation Bill, 2026, were introduced in the Lok Sabha.
Why Southern states refusing to accept bill?
It has also been alleged by several DMK and Congress MPs that southern states will be disproportionately impacted if the bill is passed in its current form. Leaders such as Manickam Tagore and A Raja have argued that states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala may not see a proportional increase in seats compared to northern states.
Union home minister Amit Shah sought to allay concerns raised by opposition members about southern states losing influence due to the increase in seats. He said that while there would be around a 50% increase in seats, the relative share of southern states in the total would also rise.
12-hour debate
The Centre and the opposition debated the bills throughout the day, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealing to opposition parties to support them, saying that opposing the bills would only give him political mileage.
Also Read | Attendance in focus as Lok Sabha gears up for voting on crucial bills
The Congress said the bill is against the integrity of the country, while AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi strongly opposed the introduction of the Women’s Reservation Bill and the Delimitation Bill. He said that if these bills become law, “the opposition’s voice will be reduced to nothing in this House.”
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also criticised the BJP-led government, alleging that it is delaying a caste-based census because conducting it would require releasing the data and implementing caste-based reservations for backward communities.
“Samajwadi Party is in favour of the Women’s Reservation Bill. We have always worked towards women’s empowerment. But the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to turn women into a slogan. The BJP must answer: out of the 21 states it governs, how many have women chief ministers? Even your Delhi CM does not have full powers; she is a ‘half Chief Minister’. Why is there such a hurry?” he asked.
