Lok Sabha Passes Women's Reservation Bill with 452 Votes in Favour

The Women's Reservation Bill on Wednesday was passed in the Lok Sabha during Special Session of Parliament in New Delhi. The bill received 452 votes in favour of it, a historic mandate by all measures. Only 2 votes were received against the bill.

The Narendra Modi government had introduced the Women Reservation Bill, formally called the Women's Reservation Bill 2023 [The Constitution (One Hundred Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023], on Tuesday. The Women Reservation Bill seeks to reserve one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and in the assemblies of states and Union Territories (UTs).

After clearing Lok Sabha, the Women Reservation Bill would go to the Rajya Sabha and would go the President of India to be signed into law.

In 2008, the Women Reservation Bill was initially introduced in the Rajya Sabha under the then Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. However, it faced stagnation in the Lok Sabha and did not progress further. Now, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holding a clear majority in the Lok Sabha and receiving broad cross-party support for the bill, it was anticipated that the bill would pass smoothly.

Notably, not only the ruling BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) but also opposition parties such as Congress, BSP, Janata Dal-United (JD-U), and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had expressed their backing for the bill ahead of the voting.