United Opposition defeats Delimitation Bill

18 APRIL 2026

A united Opposition 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.
Opposition argued that there was no reason to link women’s reservation, on which there is all-party consensus, to delimitation in this manner.
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, and the Delimitation Bill, 2026 — which were linked to the constitutional amendment.
The government extended the Budget session after a short interlude for deliberating on these Bills.

Increase in Lok Sabha Seats

Senior Congress leader and Kerala MP K.C. Venugopal said that Home Minister Amit Shah 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.

Argument for Delimitation

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.