The Lok Sabha on Friday rejected a bill that sought to fast-track the implementation of women's reservation and carry out delimitation without conducting a fresh Census.
The proposal was defeated after a division of votes, with 298 members voting in favour and 230 against it. The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) needed 326 votes for passage of the bill. A total of 528 MPs participated in the voting.
The bill had aimed to bypass the requirement of a new Census for delimitation, a provision that has remained central to the rollout of women’s quota in legislatures.
Lok Sabha was adjourned till 11 am tomorrow after Union Minister Kiren Rijiju withdrew the bill from the Lok Sabha.
The development comes amid a special three-day sitting of Parliament from April 16 to 18, convened to consider amendments to the "Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam", or the Women's Reservation Act. The law provided for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.
The proposed amendments were aimed at enabling the implementation of the quota by 2029. They also sought to expand the strength of the Lok Sabha to 850 seats from the current 543 in order to operationalise the reservation framework ahead of the next general elections.
As part of the plan, delimitation is to be carried out based on the last published Census, a move that has drawn objections from the opposition. Several opposition parties have opposed the amendments in Parliament and demanded that the Centre withdraw them.
Reacting to the development, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi called the bill an attempt to change the electoral structure of the country.
"We have defeated the bill in Lok Sabha. We have always said that the bill was not aimed at uplifting women, but an attempt to change the electoral structure of the country. I am asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement the Women's Reservation Bill 2023 and the entire Opposition will help you in doing that," Rahul Gandhi said while speaking to reporters outside Parliament.
The BJP, on the other hand, claimed that
