Parliament Session Live Updates: The Lok Sabha on Monday, 20 September, passed the 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam' (NSVA) with 454 votes in favour and two against it. The Bill proposes to provide 33% reservation to women in the Parliament and the state Assemblies.
Watch the proceedings here:
The voting took place after heated debates on the Bill in the Lower House through the day.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi earlier addressed the Lok Sabha on the issue.
"There is one thing in my view that makes this Bill incomplete. I think OBC reservation should have been included in this Bill," Rahul Gandhi said.
"There are also two things that seem strange to me - one is the idea that you require a new census and the second is that you required a new delimitation to implement this Bill," he added.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi's claims of OBCs being sidelined, Home Minister Amit Shah said that 29% BJP MPs are from the OBC community.
"Your party never made a OBC PM, we did," Shah said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in her address to the Lok Sabha said: "How many years will they wait? Two years? Four years? Six years? Eight years? Is this right? The Congress demands that this Bill be implemented immediately but there should be a caste census and the women of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBC must be given reservation too. The government should take all necessary steps for this."
Addressing the Lok Sabha later on Wednesday, Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said: "She also said that the Opposition is misleading the country on the Bill by demanding reservation for backward classes."
The Bill, which promises 33 percent reservation in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies for women, was tabled in the Lower House of Parliament the previous day by Union Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal.
Key statements made on the Bill in the Lok Sabha:
"The dates for both census and delimitation are intermittent. Them why has this session been called?: NCP MP Supriya Sule
"Devil in the detail came forth. This male-dominated Parliament betrayed women": SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal
"Has the Congress remembered the elfare of SC/STs and OBCs only after women's reservation Bill?": Union Minister Anupriya Patel
"Don't just salute us, we don't want to be put on pedestals. We want to be treated as equals": DMK MP Kanimozhi
"The Bill has been brought to allure women before the upcoming elections": BSP chief Mayawati
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Lok Sabha Passes Women's Reservation Bill with 454 Votes
After heated debates on the 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam' (NSVA) or the Bill for women's reservation in the Parliament the Lok Sabha passed the Bill with 454 votes.
PM Modi Arrives in Parliament
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Lo Sabha as the House discusses Nari Shakti Bill.
Amit Shah Addresses Lok Sabha on Women's Reservation
Addressing the Lok Sabha on women's reservation, Union Minister Amit Shah said: "For PM Modi and the government, women's reservation is not about politics, it's about recognition."
Responding to Rahul Gandhi's claims of OBCs being sidelined over women's reservation Bill, Shah said that 29% BJP MPs are from the OBC community.
'Support Women's Bill But Need Caste Census': Rahul Gandhi
"There is one thing in my view that makes this Bill incomplete. I think OBC reservation should have been included in this Bill," Rahul Gandhi said.
"There are also two things that seem strange to me - one is the idea that you require a new census and the second is that you required a new delimitation to implement this Bill," he added.
He also questioned why President Droupadi Murmu was absent from the events for the inauguration new Parliament.
"The moment the Opposition raises the issue of caste census, the BJP tries to distract the people with the new issue so that the OBCs and the rest of the people look away," he said.
"First pass and implement the women's reservation Bill. There is no need of the census," he said.
Gandhi also demanded that a caste census be conducted in the country.