After two days of bitter wrangling, the Rajya Sabha Tuesday passed the historic women's reservation bill giving 33 percent representation to women in parliament and state assemblies.

Rajya Sabha passed the billu00a0after 186 members voted in favour, while one MP voted against the Women's bill.

Moments before the voting, prime minister Manmohan Singh said the women's reservation bill set to pass in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday was "a historic step forward" towards the emancipation of Indian women.

"This is a momentous development in the long journey of empowering our women," he said at the end of a lively debate on the bill that seeks to reserve a third of seats in parliament and state assemblies for women.