PM Modi to address nation tonight at 8.30 pm after women's reservation bill fails to pass Lok Sabha

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation tonight, April 18, at 8:30 pm. The prime minister's address comes a day after the bill to implement women's reservation – the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill – in legislatures failed to pass the Lok Sabha. “The Prime Minister will address the nation at 8.30 PM (April 18, Saturday),” an official said.

Under the Constitution (131st Amendment) 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.

The bill required votes of two third members of Parliament – 352 votes – but it did not pass the floor test in Lok Sabha. But only During polling on the bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday night, 298 members voted in its support, while 230 MPs voted against it.

Earlier, former Union Minister Smriti Irani had slammed the Congress and other INDIA bloc parties for failing to unite to pass the women's reservation bill to give quota to women in Parliament.

Smriti Irani said, “The women of the country were told that the Congress party has created a dream that holds the intention of securing political rights for women. What has become of that intention after 98 years was seen yesterday by women across the country in the nation's Parliament. The Congress party smiled, thumped desks, and celebrated politically yesterday as they crushed the aspirations of the nation's political awakening. But for the BJP, this is not just a struggle for power; it is a fight for the right to equality. Women will remember that during six decades of Congress rule, 11 crore women in this country were deprived of access to toilets. Women will remember that 25 crore women were denied the support to open bank accounts. Women will remember that under BJP-NDA, the first gender budget framework was introduced.”

She also said that the Congress had exposed its real face.

“Congress and its supporting parties celebrated the fact that the struggling political women of this country, who have been working for years and were merely demanding 33% rights. They were immersed in the celebration of how to deny those women their rights by breaking their dignity, and how to win the battle in Parliament. Today, in the Congress press conference, a jibe was made that some people in the BJP tried to play the messiah,” she said.

The former minister said, “I'm stunned that in the Congress press conference, it was stated that they support the bill passed in 2023, which mentions delimitation. But look at Congress's hypocrisy--they also say together that they don't have faith in the committee and the arrangement for delimitation. Congress has no faith in the country's constitutional arrangement, in Parliament, or in the women of the country. Congress has exposed its cruel face in front of the women of the country.”

(With agency inputs)