India, April 19 -- Women may now have to endure a long wait for the 33% reservation. On Friday, the NDA government failed to secure the two-thirds majority required in the Lok Sabha to pass a bill amending the 2023 legislation. Consequently, the bill was defeated.

However, prior to the vote, the government had-late at night-notified the 2023 Women's Reservation Act to ensure that the outcome of the vote would have no adverse effect on the law itself. Had the government not taken this step, the legislation would have lapsed following the defeat of the amendment bill. Experts suggest that a secondary reason for notifying the original bill was the procedural requirement that amendments to a law can only be introduced after the said law has ...