Parliament session live updates: Both Houses are set to resume proceedings on Saturday, a day after a stormy session in the Lok Sabha saw the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill fail to secure the required two-thirds majority, a rare setback for the government in over a decade. The BJP-led Centre’s push to advance the delimitation exercise, linked to the rollout of women’s reservation, hit a roadblock after the Opposition voted against the bill. The development has triggered a sharp political face-off between the ruling alliance and the INDIA bloc.
The amendment bill, which required a two-thirds majority to pass, received 298 votes in favour and 230 against during division following a marathon debate on three government bills.
The failure effectively stalls the delimitation process tied to the implementation of 33% reservation for women, which was proposed to come into effect from the 2029 general elections.
Political sparring intensifies
The outcome has sparked a war of words, with the government accusing the Opposition of blocking women’s rights, while Opposition leaders have defended their stand as a constitutional necessity.
Union home minister Amit Shah, who replied to the lengthy debate in the House, took a sharp swipe at the Opposition, accusing it of celebrating at the expense of women.
“How can anyone celebrate victory after deceiving half the country’s population—700 million women—and losing their trust?” he said on X.
He added, “This celebration by the opposition is an insult to every woman who has been waiting for her rights for decades.”
Issuing a warning ahead of elections, Shah said, “The women of the country are seeing who the obstacle in their path is… When you go to the elections, the mother power will demand an account, and then you won’t find a way to escape.”
Opposition terms defeat a ‘constitutional win’
The Opposition, however, pushed back strongly, framing the bill’s defeat as a victory for constitutional principles.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said, “The amendment bill has fallen. They used an unconstitutional trick in the name of women to break the Constitution. India has seen it. INDIA has stopped it. Hail the Constitution.”
In another post, he added, “This is not a Women’s Reservation Bill – it has nothing to do with women. This bill is anti-OBC, This bill is anti-SC-ST, This bill is Anti National – against the South, North-East, North-West, and small states.”
What’s on the agenda today
As Parliament reconvenes, the Lok Sabha is scheduled to take up routine business. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will table the Annual Report (2022–2023) of the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, along with its audited accounts and a government review of its functioning.
However, it remains unclear whether discussions around the contentious women’s reservation-linked amendment will be taken up again.
IST
Parliament session live updates: ‘Don’t mislead on women’s quota,’ says Congress as amendment bill fails
“I challenge the BJP not to lie—the Women’s Reservation Bill was already passed in 2023. Why did you issue the notification just the day before yesterday? Where were you sleeping for 3 years?… Women’s reservation should start from today, begin it right now—implement it in the upcoming assembly elections… Your attempt to bring the delimitation into the hands of the government through this has been completely defeated; India’s democracy has been saved,” ANI quoted him as saying.
