New Delhi/IBNS, April 19 -- "Even Chanakya would have been astonished by your political shrewdness," when Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra aimed that remark at Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the Lok Sabha, it drew laughter-but also captured the essence of what unfolded: a legislative defeat that may have been politically premeditated.

The Women's Reservation Bill-envisioned to reserve 33% seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies-was defeated in the Lok Sabha after the Opposition bloc INDIA mustered 230 votes against it.

The ruling NDA, despite backing the bill with 298 MPs, fell well short of the two-thirds majority mark of 360 required for passage.

On paper, it was a straightforward parliamentary loss. Politically, it ...