Parliament updates: Centre’s amendment bill for delimitation defeated in Lok Sabha

The Union government’s bill to amend the 2023 Women’s Reservation Act and redraw the boundaries of electoral constituencies was defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The 2026 Constitution 131st Amendment Bill, one of three draft legislations, required a two-thirds majority of votes in Parliament to pass. The ruling National Democratic Alliance does not have a two-thirds majority of MPs in any House. Therefore, it required the support of Opposition parties to pass the amendment.

The consideration of the bill was rejected by the House with 298 MPs voting in its favour and 230 against. With 528 MPs present in the Lower House, the bill would have required the support of 352 of them.

The government decided to withdraw the two other bills, saying that they were linked to the Constitution Amendment Bill and therefore could not be taken up for consideration separately.

The bills had been introduced by the government on Thursday, when a special three-day session of Parliament began.

Here are more top updates from the special session of Parliament:

• After the Lok Sabha proceedings, the Congress stated that the bill was defeated as the Union government “used an unconstitutional trick in the name of women” to bring it forward. Party leader Rahul Gandhi said the Opposition INDIA bloc had “stopped it”. Congress...

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