Crucial women's quota bill lapses for the fourth time (March 8 is International Women's Day)

Also according to the Rajya Sabha Legislative Guidelines: “After the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, all bills, except the bills introduced in the Rajya Sabha and pending therein, lapse.”

”The women's reservation bill has been passed by the upper house and is currently the property of the Lok Sabha, thus it stands lapsed the day the new parliament is constituted after the general elections,” G.C. Malhotra, a former Lok Sabha secretary general, told IANS.

A total of 68 bills, including the women's reservation bill and another reserving 50 percent of seats in panchayats for women, are slated to lapse with the end of the 15th Lok Sabha. The second bill would have set aside a staggering 14 lakh seats for women.

The next government would have to restart the entire process, from the introduction to getting the bill passed in both houses of parliament, PRS Legislative Research said.

”If other bills can be pushed through under unprecedented circumstances, then why not the women's reservation bill,” Annie Raja, one of the most vocal activists in favour of the bill, asked while speaking to IANS.

”The UPA has time and again promised that the bill would be passed. It has played with the sentiments of women on this issue,” she added.