The BJP-led government’s efforts to get the Delimitation Bill as part of its push to expedite implementation of women’s reservation did not find the requisite support in the Lok Sabha on Friday with opposition members voting against the Constitution Amendment Bill.
In the division on the Constitution Amendment Bill that took place following the debate on the three bills moved by the government for passing, 298 members supported the bill while 230 voted against it.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced the results of the division.
“The Constitution (131st Amendment) Amendment Bill did not pass as it did not achieve a 2/3 majority during voting in the House,” he said.
Home Minister Amit Shah replied to the marathon debate on three bills.
He slammed the opposition parties over their stance on the bills aimed at implementing women’s reservation from the 2029 general elections and said that when they fight the next elections and said they will face the wrath of women.
Opposition parties strongly objected to the Delimitation Bill and said the government should implement women’s reservation immediately in the existing strength of the Lok Sabha. They expressed their full support for women’s reservation.
In his speech during the debate, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the government over the Delimitation Bill and said it has “nothing to do with the empowerment of women” and is an “attempt to change the electoral map of India”.
Nearly 130 members took part in the two-day debate on the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Delimitation Bill, 2026.
After Lok Sabha did not pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government had no intention to pursue the two other bills as the three were interlinked.
The government had convened a three-day special sitting of the budget session to get the three bills passed.
Amit Shah later said that Congress, TMC, DMK, and Samajwadi Party did not allow the passage of the essential Constitution Amendment Bill for the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
“Today, a very strange scene unfolded in the Lok Sabha. The Congress, TMC, DMK, and Samajwadi Party did not allow the passage of the essential Constitution Amendment Bill for the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. Rejecting the bill that would grant 33% reservation to women, celebrating it, and raising victory cries over it is truly reprehensible and beyond imagination,” he said.
“Now, the women of the country will not get the 33% reservation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, which was their right. The Congress and its allies have done this not for the first time, but repeatedly. Their mindset is neither in the interest of women nor of the country,” he added.
Amit Shah said that the women of the country will punish the opposition parties in elections.
“I want to tell them that this insult to Nari Shakti will not stop here; it will travel far and wide. The opposition will have to face the ‘wrath of women’ not only in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, but at every level, in every election, and at every place,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi, who is Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, later said they have defeated this attack on the Constitution.
“We have clearly said that this is not a women’s reservation bill, but it is a way to change India’s political structure,” he told reporters.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the vote was not about women’s reservation but democracy. She also slammed the BJP.
“We can never agree to linking delimitation with women’s reservation. It was not possible that this bill would pass. This is a big win for democracy in our country. Those who did not take any action in Hathras, Unnao and Manipur are talking about an anti-women mindset?” Priyanka Gandhi told reporters.
Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said that women’s reservation bill was passed in 2023 and if the government had not linked it to delimitation and census, the implementation would have advanced significantly.
“I believe that if Prime Minister Modi and the BJP government had introduced a simple women’s reservation bill, without any requirements for delimitation or census, women’s reservation would have advanced significantly. The women’s reservation law passed in 2023, which the government implemented last night, will be implemented further,” he told ANI.
Gogoi said the “political delimitation” the government wanted to do in the name of women’s reservation in 2026 “has been exposed across the country”.
“Somewhere, the BJP only wants to play politics, and the country has understood this today,” he said.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said it is a convincing victory for opposition and opposition members voted to save democracy.
“It has been a very convincing victory. The BJP fell 52 votes short of the two-thirds they needed to pass the constitutional amendment… We are feeling a certain sense of triumph. this is not a vote against women’s reservation, but against delimitation and the mischief that delimitation and the dramatic expansion of Parliament would do to our democracy, so we voted to save our democracy,” he told ANI.
“We have said even in our speeches, that we will vote for women’s reservation if you will delink it from delimitation. It is against their refusal to delink this that we have voted,” he added.
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav said they are not against reservation for women but had concerns about the way government intended to carry out the delimitation process.
” We have stated our stance clearly. We are in favour of women’s reservation. Samajwadi Party and Opposition did not oppose women’s reservation,” he said.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said Congress opposes everything that the Modi government proposes.
“Congress party, especially Rahul Gandhi, oppose everything. Today, when the Modi government is committed to women’s empowerment, they (the opposition) are opposing it. It is evident that they are against ‘nari vandan’ and women’s representation. The women of the country will not forgive them,” he said.
BJP leader Tejasvi Surya accused the Congress of betraying women of the country.
“This is a very sad day for the democracy of the country. We had the opportunity to create history by giving women their rights in policy making, but the Congress party has once again betrayed the women of the country,” he said.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi also took potshots at Congress and said people will teach it a lesson.
“Today the entire country saw who is in favour of women’s reservation and who is against women’s reservation… The country lost a historic opportunity because of the Congress Party… People will teach the Congress party a lesson,” he said.
A Constitution Amendment Bill needs a majority of the total membership of the House and a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting for its passing.
The special sitting of Parliament was held amid campaign for assembly polls in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Elections have been held in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry and the results will be announced on May 4.
The One Hundred and Sixth Constitutional Amendment Act, 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam), passed in 2023 by Parliament provides for 33% (one-third) reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
The government has notified that it has come into force from April 16.
(ANI)
