NEW DELHI, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, a coalition of several political parties led by the main ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saw its Constitutional Amendment Bill fail to secure passage in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, on Friday.
The federal government's Constitutional Amendment Bill attempted to ensure 33 percent reservation for women in the Parliament and the states' legislative assemblies. It also intended to increase the maximum strength of the Lok Sabha to 850 lawmakers and delimitation of parliamentary constituencies based on the population Census carried out in the year 2011.
In order to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill passed, the federal government needed a two-thirds majority, i.e., 362 out of the total 543 lawmakers in the Lok Sabha. However, only 298 lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, while 230 lawmakers voted against it. ■