‘Sad day’: Priyanka Chaturvedi breaks party line as women’s bill fails in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Taking a different stance from her party, Shiv Sena Party (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Friday expressed disappointment over the failure of the women’s reservation bill in the Lok Sabha. She called it a setback for women who aspire to enter parliament and state assemblies.A constitutional amendment aimed at achieving women’s reservation in the legislature by 2029 and expanding the strength of the Lok Sabha failed to pass the lower house. 298 MPs voted in favor and 230 against. The bill failed to reach the required two-thirds majority and required 352 votes out of 528 participating members to pass.

Chaturvedi responded on “X” saying it was “a sad day for Indian women who hope to find representation in Parliament or in assemblies”. She added that her stand on women’s reservation is consistent and she will continue to express it.She wrote in her next post: “I have always taken a stand on reservations for women and I will continue to express that stand. Deal with it.”Netizens were quick to point out her opposition to the party and said she would “get an RS seat from the BJP soon”. However, the leader refused to budge, writing: “Did you draft the invitation?” The proposed amendment seeks to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats from 543 to a maximum of 850 so that reservation for women can be implemented before the 2029 general elections after the delimitation exercise based on the 2011 census.A day earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray urged the Center to immediately implement the 2023 law to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, while calling for a stay on the delimitation process.In a brief statement, the former Maharashtra chief minister said delimitation was not about the political future of any party but about the future of the country.