The Editorial Page: A political setback for government, a democratic opening for Opposition 8 SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE jAIPUR, LATE CITy, 20 PAGES ₹6.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I Ly f R O M : A H M E DA B A D , C H A N D I GA R H , D E L H I , j A I P U R , KO L K ATA , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N AG P U R , PAT N A , P U N E , vA D O DA R A POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 FIRST MAJOR LEGISLATIVE DEFEAT FOR MODI GOVT SINCE 2014; RELATED BILLS DROPPED MODI, SHAH WARN OPPOSITION IT WILL FACE WOMEN’S IRE IF RESERVATION DENIED GOVT’S REAL DESIGN WAS TO CHANGE ELECTORAL MAP OF COUNTRY, SAYS OPP Opposition stands, women’s Bill falls Opp:Hailthe Constitution, BJP’sdeceitful Will work with Tehran to recover chariotstopped enriched uranium: US President 298-230 voting score in House well short of required two-thirds majority Vikas Pathak & Deeptiman Tiwary New Delhi, April 17 IN THE first major legislative loss for the Modi government since it came to power in 2014, the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, seeking to advance reservation of seats for women in an expanded Lok Sabha and state Assemblies and facilitate delimitation of constituencies,wasdefeatedin Lok Sabha Friday evening. Ofthe528memberspresent in the House, 298 voted in favour of the Bill and 230 opposed it, the result well short of thetwo-thirdsmajorityneeded for a Constitutional amendment Bill to clear the House. The amended women’s quota Bill – the 2023 women’s ThE EDITOrIAl PAGE IN PArLIAmENt PUShbAck, LESSoN for govt PAgE 8 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 lPRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi will speak at a “grand gathering” in Coimbatore. lLEADER OF Opposition Rahul Gandhi will launch election campaign in Chennai. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm Express News Service New Delhi, April 17 THE ALLAHABAD High Court on Friday allowed a petition by a Karnataka-based BJP member,VigneshShishir,seekingaprobeintoallegationsthat Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also holds a British citizenship. Justice Subhash Vidyarthi setasideanorderofaLucknow trial court in January, which declined to entertain the petitioner’s plea. The complete order of the High Court is yet to be made public. The trial court had earlier said that under legislation and citizenship rules, it had “no jurisdiction to adjudicate the questionrelatingtothecitizenship or nationality of anyone" while ruling that "the present applicationisnotmaintainable and liable to be rejected”. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 New Delhi, April 17 hIgh drAmA, qUIEt cErtAINty — ANd A fALL PAgE 6 happening today RahulGandhi’s citizenship: AllahabadHigh Courtallows pleaforprobe Asad Rehman PArlIAmENT reservation law still stands – was put to vote after a marathon two-day debate during which Prime Minister NarendraModiandHomeMinister Amit Shah urged members to support the proposed legislation, and cautioned the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other ministers during the special sitting of Parliament, Friday. ANI Close to vote, Govt realised Bill would fall, put the onus on Opp Deeptiman Tiwary & Liz Mathew New Delhi, April 17 HOURS BEFORE the Constitutional amendment Bill providing for women’s reservation and delimitation was put to vote in the Lok Sabha, it was pretty much clear to the government it did not have the support of enough MPs in the House for the requiredtwo-thirdsmajorityof those present. But BJP leaders and sources in the government told The Indian Express they would not withdraw the Bill at this point; they would rather have it fall at the hands of the Opposition. Inalastditchattempttosalvage the Bill, the ruling party did make attempts to reach out to the Akhilesh Yadavled Samajwadi Party and some other Opposition parties during the day. They seemed to think sections within the Opposition would support the Bill when it is brought to vote, worried about facing questions during elections. By EP UNNY »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AFTERTHEConstitution(One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, failed to get the Lok Sabha’s approval Friday, the Opposition hailed it as “historic” and emphasised it was not against women’s reservation. In his first reaction after the Bill failed to make its way through the Lower House, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi posted on X, “The amendmentbillhasfallen.They usedanunconstitutionaltrickin thenameofwomentobreakthe Constitution. India has seen it. INDIA(bloc)hasstoppedit.Hail the Constitution.” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said the state had “defeated Delhi”. “On April 23 (elections), we will defeat Delhi’s arrogance — andtheslaveswhosupportthat arrogance — together,” Stalin wrote on X alongside a portrait of him setting fire to a copy of the Delimitation Bill. In another post, he said, “The south stood united and made its voice heard. Democracy prevailed. We never opposed delimitation. We asked for fairness, for a process that is »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC/ST Act added to rape FIR that triggered arrests in TCS Nashik case People return home following a ceasefire, in Lebanon. REUTERS Humeyra Pamuk, Saad Sayeed & Aziz Taher Washington, Islamabad, Paris, April 17 IRANIAN FOREIGN Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifthoftheworld’soilandliquefiednaturalgasusuallytransits, was open for all commercial vessels following the agreement of a ceasefire in Lebanon, while US President Donald Trump said he believed a deal toendtheIranwarwouldcome “soon”, although the timing remains unclear. InapostonX,Araghchisaid theStrait,whichwaseffectively closed, was open for the re- wOrlD PAgE 16 mAcroN ANd StArmEr SEEk NAvIgAtIoN SEcUrIty mainderoftheUS-brokered10daytrucebetweenIsraeliforces and Iran-backed Hezbollah agreed Thursday between Israel and Lebanon. Trump told Reuters Friday that the US will work with Iran torecoveritsenricheduranium and bring it back to the US as partofanydeal.“We’regoingto »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 We Bring The Best Out Of You Help of Central agencies is also being sought, where necessary, to get to the root of the matter, says Fadnavis Zeeshan Shaikh & Mohamed Thaver Mumbai, April 17 The Nashik Police have added another charge to the first FIR thattriggeredarrestsintheTCS Nashikcase.FIR156,whichwas filed against Danish Sheikh on charges of rape, sexual harassment and hurting religious sentiments on March 26, was expanded on March 31 to includesectionsoftheScheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Police said this is because the complainant woman is a member of the SC community. On Friday, speaking to the media in Kolkata, Maharashtra ChiefMinisterDevendraFadnavis said, “The Nashik TCS incidentthatcametolightwasaserious matter. It is a module that is beingstrictlyprobedtoascertain itsdeep-rootedlinks.Helpisalso being sought from central agencies,wherenecessary,toget to the root of the case. TCS has taken serious cognisance and strongly condemned the incident. They are cooperating and taking necessary measures.” All the accused, except TCS employee Nida Khan, have beenarrested.Herlawyer,Baba Sayyad, told The Indian Expressthat he would soon file an anticipatorybailapplicationon her behalf, adding that she was “a victim of media trial”. He claimed Khan is pregnant and her family is concerned about the impact of the case on her health. On her alleged role, Nashik Police Commissioner Sandeep Karniksaid,"Sofar,herrolehas not emerged in any other FIR. She was an associate and not in HR at the company. In our probe,nolinkhasbeenfoundto the accused (Nida) in any case registered across the country.” Healsosaidpolicehavewritten to central agencies to check claimsthatsomeoftheaccused are linked to banned groups. AnanalysisofallnineFIRsin the case shows that eight carry charges of sexual harassment, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Delimitation row fuels DMK’s final push against ADMK, Vijay in race against time Manoj C G A WEEK is a long time in politics.AndinTamilNadu,the incumbentDMK,inthethickof itscampaignfortheApril23Assembly elections which may havethrownupvariousimponderables,haslessthanaweekto ignitethedelimitationrowinto a full-blown poll issue. The row does not seem to have become a major talking point among people so far on thepollevedespiteTamilNadu Chief Minister and DMK presidentMKStalin’stoughtalkand call for street protests. But Tamil Nadu’s political landscape is unique in many ways.Itwasthefirststatetoembrace regional forces when it voted out the Congress way business as Usual E. l ISSUE DOESN’T SEEM TO HAvE BECOME A MAJOR TALKING POINT AMONG PEOPLE AMID POLLS Karur, Dindigul, Tenkasi, April 17 As Iran opens Strait of Hormuz, Trump says blockade to stay until deal is reached DECISION 2026 TAMIL NADU »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Sunil Punia Sir Dileep Mahecha Director Rajveer Sir Vijay Sihag Sir Abhishek Sir Vijay Shekhawat Sir Surya Sir Lakshita Ma’am Sharwan Choudhary Sir The Mentors who will take you to success RAS Pre & Foundation Batch Online & Offline morE rEP0rtS, PAgE 10 back in 1967, when the latter had absolute political domination across the country. Governed by the two leading Dravidian parties alternatively for about six decades, the state's natural impulse is to view moves by the Central government with suspicion. This despite the fact that the Dravidianmajorshavesharedpower at the Centre in the past as part of different coalitions, both with the Congress and the BJP. Narendra Ranawat Sir 14 vizSy 2026 ls u;k cSp izkjEHk Exclusive Live Batch from Classroom Riddhi - Siddhi, Gopalpura Bypass, Jaipur 9636977490, 0141-3555948 DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin sets fire to a copy of the Delimitation Bill, at Namakkal in western Tamil Nadu. @MKSTALIN Contact usSpringboard Academy Online Springboard Academy Jaipur ,si MkmuyksM djus ds fy, QR Code LdSu djsa fLizaxcksMZ ,dMeh ds IAS, RAS grq izekf.kr Dykl ukV~l miyC/k The Notes Hub 7610010054, 7300134518 s s s Jaipur