A government proposal to expand India’s parliament to increase women’s representation was defeated, failing to secure the required two-thirds majority.
NEW DELHI: A proposal to expand India’s parliament to increase the number of women representatives failed on Friday.
The ruling coalition could not secure the two-thirds majority needed in the lower house.
Women currently account for 14% of the 543-seat Lok Sabha. This is the lower house of parliament in the world’s largest democracy of 1.4 billion people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had convened a special sitting this week. It hoped to pass bills overhauling India’s parliamentary system, including fast-tracking a 2023 law reserving 33% of Lok Sabha seats for women.
The government said it planned to redraw parliamentary districts based on population. This would have increased the number of lower house seats to more than 800.
Parliament speaker Om Birla confirmed the bill did not pass the Friday vote. Two other related bills were subsequently shelved.
While boosting women lawmakers has broad cross-party support in principle, critics argued the expansion method would primarily benefit Modi’s party. Opposition parties and critics said expanding seats would help states in the densely populated north, where Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party enjoys strong support.
Opposition parties controlling states in southern India, where the population is lower, feared losing overall power. Lawmaker Jairam Ramesh from the opposition Congress Party hailed the defeat of what he called a “nefarious” attempt.
Instead, Ramesh said in a social media post, the government should implement the 33% quota “in the existing set up of the Lok Sabha for the 2029 Elections”.
