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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that every sixth BJP MP in the Lok Sabha secured his or her seat through "vote chori" and asked if they should be labelled "ghuspethiya" in that party's own parlance. Gandhi also claimed that the BJP would not be able to win even 140 seats today in the Lok Sabha if fair elections are held. "Through vote theft, sometimes individual seats are stolen, and at other times, an entire government. Of the 240 BJP MPs in the Lok Sabha, roughly every sixth MP secured seat through vote chori," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said in a post in Hindi on X. "They are not hard to identify - should we, in the BJP's own parlance, label them 'ghuspethiya'? And what of Haryana? There, the entire government itself is an 'ghuspethiya'. The very institutions they keep in their pockets - the ones they manipulate to distort voter lists and the electoral process - are themselves 'remote-controlled'," Gandhi said, in a scathing attack on the ...
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has pushed for rationalisation of the number of voters in every constituency, saying MPs from seats with a large electorate cannot fulfil their aspirations. Urging the opposition to support the passage of a bill to implement a 33 per cent quota for women in legislatures in 2029, Shah had said in the Lok Sabha on Friday that the delimitation exercise was essential to rationalise the number of voters in every constituency as it was essential to implement in its true spirit the idea of "one person, one vote". Citing the example of Malkajgiri in Telangana, he had said that this Lok Sabha seat had more than 20 lakh voters and the MPs from such constituencies could not cater to the aspirations of such a large voter base. Here is a look at the Lok Sabha seats with the highest and the lowest number of voters during the 2024 parliamentary polls. According to the Election Commission's data of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, there are five constituencies, including Wes
The government on Sunday came out with a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to the reservation for women in legislatures following the defeat of a Constitution Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha that seeks to provide 33 per cent quota for women in the Lower House and state assemblies. The FAQs came amid the Opposition's claim that in the name of women quota, the government was trying to carry out delimitation on its own will based on 2011 census. Here are the FAQs:- 1. Which Bills were introduced by the central government in the Lok Sabha on April 16, 2026? A:- On April 16, the central government introduced three key Bills in the Lok Sabha: The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, The Delimitation Bill, 2026 and The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026. 2. Why were these three Bills brought at this point in time? A:- The 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam', commonly known as the Women Reservation Act, provides that reservation for women
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his government's women's reservation bill was a noble effort that got 'derailed' due to the DMK and Congress which made it a "target of hatred and petty politics." Especially targeting the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu and the Congress over the amendment bill being defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the PM asked, "Why does it trouble DMK, Congress to see ordinary women rise." He said he had personally appealed to the opposition parties to support the bill and even offered to give them credit as "I only wanted sisters from ordinary families to come to parliament, assemblies in good numbers." "But unfortunately, this noble effort got derailed. DMK, Congress and their allies made it a target of hatred and petty politics," he charged. Had this bill been passed, many Tamil women from ordinary families would have become MPs and MLAs. Based on 2011 census, Tamil Nadu was going to get so many more seats in Lok Sabha, "but clearly DMK didn't want t
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. "The Prime Minister will address the nation at 8.30 PM (April 18, Saturday)," an official said. Modi is expected to delve into the issue of implementation of women's quota and the happenings in Parliament, where opposition parties on Friday voted against the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill. Under the Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased up to 816 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census. Seats were also to be increased in state and UT assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women. A two-thirds majority was required for the passage of the crucial bill but the ruling BJP-led alliance could not muster the numbers. During polling on the bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday ni
The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die on Saturday, drawing curtains on the Budget session that began in January. As soon as the House met at 11 am, Speaker Om Birla read out his concluding remarks, following which he adjourned the House sine die (for an indefinite period). The session concluded a day after a Constitution amendment bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies by 2029 by increasing the number of seats in the Lower House from 543 to 816 was defeated by a division of votes. A three-day sitting of Parliament was held from April 16 to discuss and pass the bill along with two other enabling draft laws.