Constitution Amendment Bill, part of delimitation package, defeated

On Friday, April 17, 2026, a united Opposition defeated the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which sought redistribution of 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 “cruel politics” and warned that it would face the “wrath of women voters”. A total of 298 members voted in favor of the bill and 230 voted against it; At the time of the vote, the number of members in the Parliament was 528. The Parliament failed to meet the two-thirds majority of 352 votes required to pass the Constitutional Amendment Bill. Following the defeat, the government withdrew two allied bills – the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the Delimitation Bill, 2026 – which were linked to the constitutional amendment.