131st Amendment) Bill 2026

 131st Amendment) Bill, 2026

united Opposition on Friday defeated the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which sought to redistribute Lok Sabha seats on the basis of the 2011 Census to expedite the implementation of women’s reservation.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Opposition of playing “ruthless politics” and warned that it would face the “wrath of women” voters. 

Voting 

A total of 

• 298 members voted in favour of the Bill and 
• 230 against it, 
• with the House strength at the time of voting being 528. 

• It failed to meet the two-thirds majority mark of 352 required for a Constitution Amendment Bill to pass.

Following the defeat, the government withdrew two allied legislations — 

• the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, 
• Delimitation Bill, 2026 — which were linked to the constitutional amendment.

The government extended the Budget session after a short interlude / gap for deliberating on these Bills.

Mr. Shah said 

that the legislative package of three Bills was aimed at fulfilling two objectives — 

• time-bound implementation of the women’s reservation Bill for the 2029 general election 
• 
  
• and to apply the “foundational” democratic principle of “one person, one vote and one value”.

Mr. Shah said this was the “fifth time” that parties of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance had stalled the legislation.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

in post on X, described the government’s move to link women’s reservation with delimitation based on the 2011 Census as a “hollow attempt” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to project himself as the “messiah of women”.

Opposition objection 

that the Bill lacked an explicit guarantee that representation of all States in the Lok Sabha would rise uniformly by 50%, 

Mr. Shah offered to a amendment incorporating this assurance if the House agreed to suspend proceedings for an hour.

Senior Congress leader and Kerala MP K.C. Venugopal 

two conditions: 

that not only should the provision be written into the Bill, 

but the government should also introduce a separate amendment delinking the implementation of women’s reservation from delimitation. 

But Sah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi 

had earlier given verbal assurances that all States would see a uniform 50% increase in Lok Sabha seats 

as the House goes from the current cap of 550 to about 850 members.

Mr. Shah accused the Opposition of manufacturing a north-south divide by propagating what he called a false narrative that southern States would lose Parliamentary representation.

 “Southern States have equal rights in this House as northern States. In fact, Lakshadweep has the same rights as Uttar Pradesh or Bihar,” he said. Lakshadweep has fewer than 50,000 voters.

Making a strong pitch for delimitation, Mr. Shah argued that the principle of “one person, one vote, one value” has been violated due to the freeze based on the 1971 Census. 

He pointed out that India’s population has grown from about 54.79 crore then to nearly 140 crore in 2026, leading to stark disparities in constituency sizes. 

Citing Malkajgiri in Telangana

which has about 48 lakh voters, he asked how a single MP could represent such a large electorate. 

Mr. Shah also argued that opposition to delimitation effectively meant opposition to increasing the number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

He also addressed Opposition allegations that the government was trying to sidestep the ongoing caste count while implementing women’s reservation.