India's government failed to pass a constitutional amendment reserving 33% of parliamentary and state assembly seats for women after opposition parties accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the quota as cover for controversial electoral redistricting. Women currently hold only 14% of India's 543 lower house seats, and the proposal requires a two-thirds majority that Modi's National Democratic Alliance lacks. The reform is tied to a population-based delimitation that would expand parliament to about 850 seats based on the 2011 census, the first such redraw since 1971. Southern states including Tamil Nadu and Kerala strongly oppose the redistricting, fearing their lower fertility rates will cost them seats and political power relative to populous northern states, with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin burning a copy of the bill in protest. Opposition parties support women's reservation at current parliamentary strength but want to freeze overall seat expansion until population trends stabilize.
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