NDA floor leaders held a meeting after the Constitution Amendment Bill seeking to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of seats of the Lok Sabha was defeated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation tonight at 8.30 PM, a day after a bill to implement women's reservation in legislatures was defeated in the Lok Sabha.
'Vote banks will change affiliations and the BJP will come out with good success in Kerala.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused BJP MPs of securing their seats through 'vote chori' and claims the BJP would struggle to win even 140 seats in fair elections.
'You cannot run Parliament with 800 MPs as nobody will get time (to speak in Parliament). And Parliament sits for barely 60 days in a year.' 'Look at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. They have 650 MPs and they sit for 150 days on an average in a year.'
"The truth is that the election system in India is already dead. Please remember one thing that the prime minister of India enjoys a very slim majority. If 10-15 seats were rigged, and we suspect the actual figures to be closer to 70-80 to 100, he would not have been the prime minister of the country," the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha claimed.
The government has released a set of FAQs to address concerns and clarify the details surrounding the Women's Reservation Bill, which aims to provide 33 per cent quota for women in legislatures.
Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj Party will contest on all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, party's state general secretary, Nalin Bhatt said in Vadodara on Tuesday.
However, the BJP is sceptical about the SP-BSP alliance as they believe Mayawati and Akhilesh will "finish off after fighting among themselves."
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor criticised the proposal to increase the Lok Sabha's strength to 850, while BJP leaders defended delimitation as a democratic necessity at the Stanford India Conference 2026.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah criticises the Congress and its allies for the defeat of the Constitution amendment bill aimed at implementing 33 per cent women's quota in legislative bodies before the 2029 Parliamentary polls.
The Bharatiya Janata Party replaced at least 25 sitting MPs with new faces as the party released its second list of 72 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Wednesday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the BJP-led central government of using the proposed amendment to the women's quota law as a front for the Delimitation Bill, which she claims will divide the country. She asserted that her party, the TMC, will fight this move at every step.
One Rajya Sabha seat is a small price to pay for all the skills that Kamal Haasan brings to the table, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Two members of the Pawar family, Sharad Pawar and his grandnephew Parth, are contesting Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra, marking a potential first where both serve simultaneously in Parliament.
The BJP won 37.70 per cent of votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections while the Congress vote share declined to 19.67 per cent.
According to BJP insiders, every Union minister has been given 3-4 seats to mentor and has been told to work hard on these constituencies in the next 20 months to ensure the party's victory.
From royalty to a tea vendor-turned-politician's wife and from a first lady to a Bengali actress, the 18 Muslim women who treaded the hallowed corridors of power in the Lok Sabha are an eclectic mix, with each of them having an interesting backstory, but one common thread -- their path to power was always strewn with struggle and hurdles.
Defectors getting tickets is causing tremendous heartburn in the BJP, says Aditi Phadnis
With the three-day special sitting of Parliament on the constitution amendment bill related to the implementation of 33 percent reservation for women from the 2029 Lok Sabha polls set to begin on Thursday, a meeting of opposition parties is slated to be held on Wednesday at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Hours after he resigned as Haryana chief minister along with his cabinet ministers, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manohar Lal Khattar Tuesday hinted that he may be fielded by the party in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
A Constitution Amendment Bill aimed at implementing 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures and increasing Lok Sabha seats was defeated in Parliament, marking a setback for the government's efforts to empower women in politics.
After a marathon polling process to elect the 18th Lok Sabha that lasted for a month and a half, the results were declared on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Parliament is on the verge of creating 'new history' by amending the Women's Reservation Act this week, ensuring its implementation by 2029. He highlighted the unanimous passage of the law in 2023 and the collective demand for its early enforcement.
The BJP has issued a three-line whip to its MPs, requiring their presence during the extended Budget session of Parliament, where amendments to the Women's Reservation Act are expected to be considered.
The Congress is close to finalising candidates for 100 Lok Sabha seats after the first meeting of its Central Election Committee tonight, but a decision on the fate of sitting members of the Lower House will be taken only after Parliament session concludes on February 21.
'The Supreme Court stated that once the delimitation plan is approved by Parliament and receives assent of the President, it cannot be undone. Nor can it be modified.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is advocating for the implementation of the Women's Reservation Act by the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections, urging all members of Parliament to support amendments to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam during a special session.
Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is projected to bag 234-246 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, a survey conducted by CNN-IBN and CSDS said.
The counting began at 8 am to decide the fate of the candidates contesting the polls, among whom all eyes will be on Dimple Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav's elder daughter-in-law and the wife of Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting from the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, necessitated by the demise of Samajwadi Party veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav in October.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju indicated that the government may bring a bill to increase seats in the Lok Sabha, potentially to implement reservation for women in the legislature. The Opposition has raised concerns about the timing and implications of the proposed bills.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday announced the name of Vadodara deputy mayor Ranjan Ben Bhatta as its candidate for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Most defections originated from three major parties -- the Congress, BJP and BSP.
Raju Srivastav says, "I have been approached by Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee President Rita Bahuguna to contest from Allahabad-Phulpur and she has also briefed me about the demography of the constituency." "I was shocked when I first heard about the offer. I thought it was another joke, better than the ones I crack. But I was told that it was a serious offer and I should consider it seriously," the 45-year-old stand-up comedian told PTI in Mumbai on Sunday.
The Indian government and opposition parties are set for a showdown in Parliament over a Constitution amendment bill concerning the implementation of the women's quota law and the delimitation exercise. The Opposition is concerned about the potential impact of delimitation on the political representation of southern states.
The debate between the Congress and its ally Nationalist Congress Party on seat-sharing in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha elections has taken a new turn. The NCP has told the Congress to go ahead on its own if it was sure of winning all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to the opposition to support the government's bills for implementing the women's reservation law, cautioning against politicisation and assuring that delimitation will be fair to all states.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP, who was speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode on Friday, said while he concedes the BJP's dominance, it is also a fact that they have lost many states and them losing the central government is not impossible.
Nine re-elected MPs represented a different party in the 17th Lok Sabha, while eight others represented a party that split from their earlier party.
A court in Uttar Pradesh sentenced Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan to two years in jail for making objectionable remarks against government officials during the 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign.
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