CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ kochi l saturday l april 18, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION 9 Malayalis die in Valparai ghat road accident Bills fail LS test Strait of Hormuz fully open ‘Wrath of women’ looms as LOSS BY 298:230 in the lower HOUSE draws battle lines DMK, TMC, and other Opposition parties, linking their resistance to the upThe battle over the women’s reserva- coming electoral battles. The subtext: tion Bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday resistance would be framed as opposiwent far beyond the arithmetic of 298 tion to women’s empowerment, with the votes in favour and 230 against. It un- BJP seeking to consolidate women as a folded as a tightly calibrated political cross-cutting constituency cutting contest over narrative, constituency- across caste and region. building, and the future architecture of The government’s argument rested representation, with the government on two assertions — that women’s quota invoking the “wrath of women” is inseparable from delimitain the 2029 Lok Sabha elections tion for its early rollout, and and beyond, and the Opposition that concerns about regional war ning that the measure imbalance, particularly fears of masked a larger attempt to rethe South losing representation, draw India’s electoral map. are misplaced. For the BJP-led government, Shah sought to neutralise that the Constitution (131st Amendanxiety insisting that represen, ment) Bill, 2026 was not merely Conscience tation would not decline and a legislative proposal but an that “no state will face a loss of vote call electoral statement. Hours be- “Please reflect seats,” positioning delimitation fore the vote, Prime Minister as a much needed structural upon your Narendra Modi appealed directcorrection. conscience, ly to MPs, urging them to rise remembering The Opposition, however, reabove partisan divides. the women in jected the premise entirely. Home minister Amit Shah Leader of Opposition Rahul your own amplified the political framing, Gandhi described the bill as a families... Let explicitly positioning women as us ensure that structural redesign masked as a decisive electoral constituenreform. the women, cy that could shape outcomes who are half of The Opposition positioned itacross multiple election cycles. self not against women’s reserthe nation’s Warning of sustained politivation, but against what it depopulation, cal consequences, he said Opposcribed as its “sequencing receive their sition parties would face the design”. By the time the bill rightful due,” “wrath of women” not only in Modi appealed. failed to secure a two-thirds mathe 2029 Lok Sabha elections, jority it had already taken on a , but “at every level, in every elecdual life. For the government, it tion, and at every place,” signalling an was a forward-looking attempt to build attempt to convert women’s reservation a long-term narrative centred on wominto a durable political theme anchored en. For the Opposition, it became a rare in the BJP’s governance narrative and point of convergence, an issue framed Modi’s personal popularity among wom- not as rejection of women’s reservation, en voters. but as resistance to the design of delimiShah directly named the Congress, tation itself. A g e n c i e s @ Washington/Tehran pic: pti J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi The mangled remains of the van that fell off a hairpin bend on Valparai-Pollachi Ghat Road on Friday E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Coimbatore/Malappuram Nine persons, including six teachers and a staffer of two government schools in Malappuram, died and four others were injured after a van they were travelling in veered off the road and plunged around 800ft while navigating the 13th hairpin bend on the ValparaiPollachi Ghat Road in Coimbatore district on Friday evening. The vehicle tumbled down four hairpin sections of the road before coming to a halt at the ninth hairpin bend. Police said the group — which was on a vacation tour — comprised staff members of the Pang-Palliparamba Government LPS and UP school at Kuruva in Malappuram and their relatives. The deceased are school headmistress Ajitha, 54, a resident of Paloor; teachers Ramla, 52, Suhara, 43, Majeed, 43, — all from Pang — and Asha, 41, from Kolathur; Majeed’s wife Ruqiya, 39, school cook Sajitha, 45, Hisham, 12, and Shakeela, 37, teacher of UP school. According to sources, Noushad, 39, Sahadeen, 11, Masneen, 10, and and van driver Mohammed Fasith, 21, were the four injured. Police said preliminary reports suggest the driver lost control while negotiating the sharp descent at the 13th hairpin bend. However, further investigation to ascertain the exact cause of the accident was under way, they ● More on P5 said.  Hectic parleys and discreet messages RA J E SH K U M AR THA K U R @ New Delhi HECTIC parleys and discreet back channel negotiations preceded the crucial vote. With the odds stacked against it, the NDA tasked BJP leaders who enjoy personal rapport with Opposition leaders with mustering support for the bill. As for the Opposition, senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi worked the phones to ensure Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool aligns with the Opposition’s stand on the bill. Sources said Rahul spoke to TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, while Kharge called up Mamata. According to BJP sources, senior leaders were roped in to beat the numbers game in the Lok Sabha. Ministers and senior BJP leaders, along with leaders of other NDA allies, were in touch with Opposition parties, albeit in a discreet manner. Within NDA, several rounds of strategic meetings were held to see if the voting could yield the desired results. Sources said senior leaders J P Nadda and Rajnath Singh were also involved in talks with Opposition parties. Hours before the voting on Friday, it became evident that the NDA’s collective efforts to overcome the Opposition’s numerical strength would not succeed. However, NDA continued to work behind the scenes to win support through other means, including cross-voting. Soon after the voting, NDA leaders met to deliberate on the post-vote strategy The meeting, . also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to target the Opposition parties for their “anti-women” stance, sources said. Another NDA meeting is scheduled on Saturday followed by a Cabinet meet, ing at 11.30 am, sources said. ‘An attempt to change electoral map’ New Delhi: The Constitution amendment bill has nothing to do with women’s reservation but is an attempt to change India’s electoral map so that BJP can retain power forever, Rahul Gandhi said on Friday. P7 In a major relief for the global energy markets, Iran on Friday declared that the Strait of Hormuz, closed since the start of the current conflict in West Asia, is “completely open” for all commercial vessels. It comes a day after Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire deal. “In line with the ceasefire in day Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of the ceasefire,” Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X. Minutes later, US President Donald Trump shared Iran’s announcement in a post on Truth Social.“Iran has just announced that the Strait of Iran is fully open and ready for full passage. Thank you!” Trump said, referring to the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said Iran, with help from the United States, is working to remove all sea mines from the strait. The US naval blockade against Iran, however, will remain in “full force” until Tehran reaches an agreement with the US to end the war, Trump said. 49 16 pages, including 4 pages of kochi Express