India government plan for more women in parliament fails vote

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New Delhi: India's parliament on Friday failed to pass a vote on a controversial proposal to introduce a minimum quota for female lawmakers that would have also seen the Lok Sabha grow to over 800 seats.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday proposed the amendment bills in a special session of the parliament, aimed at bringing forward the implementation of a 2023 law guaranteeing a 33% quota for women in the national Parliament and state assemblies from the 2029 general elections.

The women's quota is tied to a separate and controversial bill to redraw voting boundaries based on population under the Delimitation Bill. The vote on Friday missed the two-thirds majority mark required for it to pass.

The opposition accused Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government of using the women's quota issue as a ploy to secure more votes ahead of the 2029 polls. It has also questioned the government's intentions behind linking the quota with the redrawing of voting boundaries based on census.

On Thursday, the parliament saw a marathon 12-hour debate on the bills with both Modi and the opposition taking jabs at each other.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government did not have the two-thirds majority and was banking on smaller parties and opposition groups for their support for the bills.