The Narendra Modi government has failed to pass its three Bills for women's reservation in parliament, which was tied to expanding the size of the Lok Sabha through delimitation, from its current strength of 543 seats to as many as 850. The final vote in the Lok Sabha recorded 298 'ayes' and 230 'noes'. There were 528 MPs present and voting. The government needed two-thirds majority to pass the bills, which was 352. It fell short by 54 votes.

Voting was on the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026. After defeat, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju requested that the other two bills not be proceeded upon.

The Treasury Benches today made last-minute efforts to ensure their passage through the House, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi even issuing an appeal on X. However, most opposition parties stood ground and drew a hard line on the issue of delimitation.

Opposition MPs were vocal that delimitation will make representation correlative to population, which is concentrated on the belts which see the most support for the BJP.

Watch what unfolds on day two of the special session in parliament in this live blog. Note that it may take a few moments to load.

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