Women's quota amendment: Does NDA have required numbers to pass the bill in Parliament?

In a rare instance, the ruling NDA does not have the required number of two-third majority in the Parliament to pass the women's reservation bills.

The bill can, however, be passed, if it can get support from other parties or make some parties abstain.

Amending the Constitution needs a special majority in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

This is a majority of the total membership (more than 50 per cent) and a two-thirds majority of members present and voting.

This means that if all 540 members, that are there in the house currently, are present and voting, the two-thirds majority mark would be 360.

While seeking the support of all parties in getting the bills passed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a fervent appeal in the Lok Sabha, saying that he will get all the credit in case the opposition oppose the bills but is ready to give a "blank cheque" to all in case everyone supports the legislation.

The NDA has the support of 293 members in the Lok Sabha, which is 54 per cent of the House, and the opposition has 233 MPs.

Further, seven MPs are independents, while seven belong to parties like YSRCP, AIMIM and Shiromani Akali Dal, which have not yet supported the bill openly.

If the women's quota bill, which is being discussed in the Lok Sabha, is to be passed, at least two main opposition parties from amongst the Samajwadi Party (37 MPs), Trinamool Congress (28 MPs) or DMK (22 MPs) would have to abstain.

The Congress has 98 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

Among NDA parties, the BJP has 240 MPs, TDP 16 and JDU 12 in the Lok Sabha.

If the bills are not passed in the Lok Sabha, they will not be introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

In the Rajya Sabha, the NDA has 141 members in their favour, which is 58 per cent of the upper house, and the opposition has 83 MPs in support.

Parties such as the BRS, YSRCP, BJD, and BSP and independents have 20 MPs in the upper house and their votes may help swing the decision.

The ruling alliance needs 163 MPs to be present and vote for a Constitution amendment bill to pass through the Upper House.

While the BJP has 107 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress has 28, TMC 13, AAP 10 and DMK 8.

The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to tweak the women's quota law was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday after a division of votes.

Two ordinary bills -- the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill to implement the proposed amended women's quota law in Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir -- were also introduced.

The bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha after a fiery 40-minute debate, following which the opposition pressed for the division of votes to introduce the Constitutional (131st Amendment) Bill.