Sena (UBT)'s Priyanka Chaturvedi takes stand different from party, expresses grief on women's quota bill defeat

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Friday diverged from her party's stand and rued the defeat of the Women Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha, calling it a sad day for women who hoped to find themselves in the Parliament or assembly.

The Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of seats of the Lok Sabha was defeated on Friday in the Lower House. While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.

In a post on X, Chaturvedi said, "Sad day for India's women who hoped to find themselves in the parliament or assembly." "I have a stand on women's reservation and consistently have had it and I will continue to express it. Deal with it," the former Rajya Sabha MP said in another post. Chaturvedi's term in the RS ended this month.

According to the Constitution Amendment Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to a maximum of 850 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.

On Thursday, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray had demanded that the Centre immediately implement the 2023 Act that gives 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and put on hold the process of delimitation of constituencies.

In a brief statement, the former Maharashtra CM had said delimitation, or redrawing, of constituencies is not about any one party's political future, but it is an exercise about nation's future.