17th APRIL 2026 ENGLISH TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS PDF TNPSC SHOUTERS
Constituency Delimitation Bill Defeated
- As the special session of Parliament is currently underway, the ruling BJP government yesterday tabled three bills in the Lok Sabha the Women's Reservation Amendment Bill, the Constituency Delimitation Bill, and the Union Territories Delimitation Bill despite strong opposition from the opposition parties.
- According to the Constituency Delimitation Bill, the government planned to increase the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats by 50%, bringing the total to 816 seats. Of these, 273 seats would be reserved for women, based on a 33% reservation quota.
- Against this backdrop, the debate on the three bills tabled yesterday continued in the Lok Sabha until midnight and resumed today for a second day. During today's debate, Congress MPs Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi spoke in opposition to the bills.
- Subsequently, a vote on the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill pertaining to the delimitation of constituencies was held this evening. For this bill to pass, a two-thirds majority specifically the support of 326 MPs was required.
- In the vote held today, 489 members cast their ballots. Of these, 278 members voted in favor of the bill, while 211 members voted against it. Consequently, the bill failed to secure the necessary majority for passage.
- In this context, the Constituency Delimitation and Women's Reservation Bills which had been a major topic of national discussion over the past few weeks have met with defeat. This is viewed as a setback for the ruling BJP government.
- The tenure of Harivansh Narayan Singh as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of Parliament) concluded on April 9th. Subsequently, President Droupadi Murmu appointed him as a nominated member.
- This appointment was conferred in recognition of his contributions to the field of journalism. Following this, a few days ago, Harivansh took the oath of office as a Member of Parliament once again.
- Prior to this, with the conclusion of his tenure, the office of the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha had also fallen vacant. In accordance with the rules, an election for this post was held today (Friday).
- The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) proposed the name of Harivansh Narayan Singh as its candidate for the Deputy Chairman's post. Accordingly, he filed his nomination papers once again.
- The deadline for receiving proposals for the election concluded yesterday at 12:00 PM. Five proposals supporting Harivansh's election as Deputy Chairman were received; however, no proposals were received from the opposition parties.
- Consequently, it was officially announced today that Harivansh has been elected unopposed. With this, Harivansh has been elected as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for the third time.
