Parliament LIVE | No two-thirds majority: Women's Quota Amendment Bill fails in LS
The much-debated Bill failed to cross the Lok Sabha hurdle after the BJP-led NDA received 278 votes, while the opposition INDIA bloc got 211
Here is the top, trending news of Friday, April 17, 2026, including Iran war, Indian politics, states' politics, geopolitics, federal issues, economics, development issues, sports, entertainment, and so on.
Scroll for updates below.
Live Updates
- 17 April 2026 3:18 PM IST
'Magician caught’: Rahul Gandhi attacks BJP
Amid disruptions by BJP MPs and interruptions by the Speaker, Rahul says, the BJP knew very clearly that this Bill could not be passed. This was a panic reaction because the Prime Minister needed to send 2 messages: to change the political map and that he is doing this for women. The truth is that the magician had been caught.
- 17 April 2026 3:16 PM IST
Kiren Rijiju, BJP MPs object to Rahul’s narrative
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sparked a heated exchange after narrating a magician's story during his speech, drawing sharp objections from the treasury benches and the Speaker.
As Rahul continued his remarks, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla intervened, asking him to stick to his speech on the Bill under discussion and to maintain the dignity of the House. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and other BJP MPs also protested, accusing him of deviating from the subject and mocking parliamentary proceedings.
Despite repeated interruptions, Rahul persisted, using the narrative to make a broader political point, without naming individuals. The Speaker, however, reprimanded him, questioning the relevance of his remarks to the legislative debate.
Amid continued disruptions, Rahul alleged that the government’s move on the Bill was a “panic reaction” aimed at sending political messages, asserting that the ruling party was aware the legislation would face challenges - 17 April 2026 3:08 PM IST
Nothing short of an anti-national act: Rahul Gandhi
What govt is doing is nothing short of anti-national act; we won't allow you to do it, entire opposition will defeat this: Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha. - 17 April 2026 3:03 PM IST
‘Not a women’s Bill’: Rahul Gandhi alleges bid to reshape electoral map
Women are a central force in our national imagination and perspective. All of us have been shaped, taught and influenced by the women in our lives.
Yesterday, my sister achieved something in five minutes that I could not in 20 years of political life — she made Amit Shah smile.
As a child, I was very scared of a dog we had at home. One day, my grandmother realised this. She took me outside into the darkness and left me there. I watched her walk away, but didn’t have the courage to ask her to stay. She was gone only a few minutes, but to me it felt like hours.
When she returned, she asked what I was afraid of. I said the dog, or someone being in the garden. She told me I wasn’t afraid of those things. I was afraid of my own mind and imagination. She said truth often lies in the darkness, and if you don’t have the courage to go there, you won’t have the courage to confront your fears. It was both a political and a philosophical lesson.
She told me truth can be painful, but it must be spoken. And there are some truths that need to be said in this House today.
The truth is, this is not a Women’s Bill. The Women’s Bill was passed in this House in 2023. This is an attempt to reshape India’s electoral map, using women as a cover. If you truly want to implement women’s reservation, bring it forward and we will support it immediately. But this Bill is not about that.
Everyone knows how Indian society has treated Dalits and OBCs, and what their women have endured. What is being attempted here is a bypass — an effort to deny power and representation to OBC communities. That is the real agenda: Manuvaad over Samvidhaan.
Amit Shah says a caste census has begun. The question is whether it will be used to ensure representation in this House. What is being done now is to delay that for the next 10–15 years.
This is happening because you are afraid — afraid of the changing politics of this country and the erosion of your influence.
You are telling southern, northeastern and smaller states that to remain in power, you will reduce their representation. This is anti-national, and we will not allow it.
Where are Dalits, tribals and OBCs in the judiciary, corporate sector and bureaucracy? You call them Hindus, but you deny them a fair share in power.
I want to assure people across the country — especially in southern, northeastern and smaller states — that we will not allow any attack on the Union of India or on your representation.
This question has arisen before. Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee both faced it, and both ensured that such injustice did not happen.
- 17 April 2026 2:22 PM IST
Legal lens: Three grounds on which delimitation laws may be challenged in court
Three Bills tabled for the special session of Parliament amount to the most consequential rewriting of India’s electoral architecture in 50 years. The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-first Amendment) Bill, 2026, lifts the freeze on the size of the Lok Sabha. The Delimitation Bill, 2026, builds the machinery to redraw constituencies. A third Bill aligns the laws of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir with the new scheme.
If the package is passed in its present form, a challenge in the Supreme Court is near certain. On what grounds, and which of them carry a real prospect of success? Three stand out. They are best read in sequence, rising from the narrowest doctrinal point to the broadest.
Read The Federal Special here.
- 17 April 2026 2:21 PM IST
How Southern states are reacting to delimitation debate
As the Centre pushes forward discussions on three bills to facilitate delimitation, southern states are witnessing a mix of political resistance, public confusion, and strategic silence. Sanket Upadhyay spoke to journalists Pramila Krishnan (Tamil Nadu), Naveen Ammembala (Karnataka), Rachana Srungavarapu (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), and KJ Jacob (Kerala) to understand how the proposed exercise is being received across the South.
Watch/Read the latest episode of AI with Sanket here.
- 17 April 2026 2:20 PM IST
Will women’s quota stall if Centre’s amendment Bill falls in Parliament?
Throughout the highly charged discussion on the three Bills on Thursday, which saw Congress MPs Gaurav Gogoi, Priyanka Gandhi, Manish Tewari, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, Trinamool Congress’s Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Shiv Sena-UBT’s Arvind Sawant and others tear into the “political intent” behind the proposed laws and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Shah and other voices from the government rebutting the charges, what was clear was that no meeting ground had been found between the Opposition and Treasury Benches on the contentious legislative business.
This naturally raises the question of what could happen when, tentatively at 4 pm on Friday, the Bills are put to a vote to be passed by the Lower House. With three seats vacant, the Lok Sabha currently has 540 MPs, putting the two-thirds majority mark required to pass the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, at 360 MPs. The ruling NDA coalition, which consists of 293 MPs in the Lok Sabha – 67 MPs short of the two-thirds majority, cannot hope to have the amendment passed if the Congress and its INDIA bloc allies refuse to back the Bill.
Read Puneet Nicholas Yadav's take here.
- 17 April 2026 2:17 PM IST
Mayawati slams Cong, SP for their stance on women quota
BSP chief Mayawati on Friday accused the Congress and Samajwadi Party of changing colours like a chameleon, saying they never took any initiative for reservation of SC, ST and OBC category women during their tenure but now talk about the same.
In a lengthy post on X in Hindi, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said, "In the matter of constitutional/legal rights for the country's SC, ST, and OBC communities, the Congress is changing its colour like a chameleon".
"It is the same party that is now talking about these categories in women's reservation but it never took any initiative during its central government (tenure) to fulfil their reservation quotas in any sector," she said.
"Nor did it implement the 27 per cent reservation for the OBC community in government jobs and education as per the Mandal Commission report, which was eventually implemented in the government of former prime minister VP Singh," Mayawati said.
Training her guns on the Samajwadi Party, Mayawati said similarly in Uttar Pradesh, the then SP government had shelved the report of the Backward Classes Commission that came in July 1994 which was then immediately implemented by the first BSP government on June 3, 1995.
- 17 April 2026 2:17 PM IST
Delimitation will turn out to be 'political demonetisation': Tharoor slams govt
Delimitation will turn out to be "political demonetisation", senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Friday while slamming the government for linking women's reservation with the expansion of Parliament.
Participating in a debate in the Lok Sabha on the three bills introduced for amendments in the women's quota law and setting up a delimitation commission, Tharoor said linking women's reservation with delimitation is to hold the aspirations of Indian women hostage to "one of the most contentious and complex" administrative exercises in the country's history.
"Today we stand at a threshold where there is near unanimous political consensus in favour of women's reservation. Every major party realises that the time for tokenism is over and the era of collective partnership must begin and yet I am finding myself deeply perturbed by the legislative exercise before us," he said.
"The prime minister says he has brought 'nari shakti' the gift of justice but he has wrapped it in barbed wire, tethering the implementation of women's reservation to the expansion of Parliament, to numbers from the 2011 census and an exercise of delimitation... Why must we entangle a moral imperative with a demographic minefield, he asked.
- 17 April 2026 1:44 PM IST
A Raja accuses PM, HM of misleading Parliament over assurances on women’s quota bills
DMK MP A Raja accused the Prime Minister and the Home Minister of “undermining Parliament,” alleging that assurances being given to the House are not reflected in the text of the Bills under consideration.
He said that while the Home Minister had assured Parliament that there would be a 50 per cent uniform increase in seats and proportionate representation for all states, such provisions do not appear either in the Constitution or in the Bills approved by the Cabinet and presented before the House.
A Raja questioned the purpose of introducing the legislation if key assurances are not part of its written provisions, and alleged that the country’s “Number 1 and Number 2” were misleading Parliament through verbal commitments that are not legally incorporated in the draft laws.
He said the Opposition was being informed of assurances that have no basis in the actual text of the Bills, and called it an attempt to “undermine parliamentary procedure and transparency.”
