New Delhi: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on Wednesday defeated the motions by the opposition parties in the Lok Sabha over foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail. In fact, it was quite a comfortable win for the UPA as the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) walked out before the vote in the House. The walkouts brought the effective strength of the House down to 471 and the halfway strength came down to 236. Defeating the motions comfortably, the UPA got 253 votes in its favour, as there were 218 votes against the government.
