New Delhi: A Constitution amendment bill that proposed to enlarge Lok Sabha’s strength and conduct a delimitation exercise to implement women’s quota fell in the House Friday evening, marking the first such legislative defeat for the Modi government in 12 years.
Being a constitutional amendment bill, it required the support of two-thirds of the members present and voting but fell short with the Opposition coming together to vote against it. While 298 votes were received in its favour, 230 votes went against the proposed amendments.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced that the amendment bill was defeated because, out of 489 members, it did not get the required two-thirds majority. The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill 2026 seeks to expand the current strength of the House and allow delimitation of seats based on the pre-2026 Census.
The Opposition was against delimitation right from the outset, with several stakeholders alleging a situation in future wherein one or two large states could dictate policies due to their larger number of representatives.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju termed it unfortunate that the Opposition didn’t support the bill. “The bill failed as the Opposition did not support such a historic bill,” Rijiju said, adding that since the two other bills were interrelated with the constitutional amendment bill, they would not be taken up.
Later, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in a post on X, slammed the Opposition for not allowing the passage of the constitution amendment bill.
आज लोकसभा में बहुत अजीब दृश्य दिखा।
नारी शक्ति वंदन अधिनियम के लिए जरूरी संविधान संशोधन बिल को कांग्रेस, TMC, DMK और समाजवादी पार्टी ने पारित नहीं होने दिया। महिलाओं को 33% आरक्षण देने के बिल को गिरा देना, उसका उत्साह मनाना और जयनाद करना सचमुच निंदनीय और कल्पना से परे है।
अब…
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 17, 2026
Hours before voting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made two appeals to the Opposition to vote in favour of the women’s reservation and not do anything that might hurt the sentiments of the country’s ‘nari shakti’ (women power).
The debate which took place on Thursday and continued until Friday, saw Union Home Minister Amit Shah slamming the Opposition as “anti-women” and making excuses to block the bill.
Shah came down heavily on the Opposition, saying the INDIA bloc members opposed women’s reservation with ifs and buts. Shah also said that those opposing delimitation are actually opposing an increase in SC/ST seats.
“No one has objected to the women’s reservation. But, if we look closely, all members of the INDIA bloc have opposed it by using ‘ifs and buts’,” Shah said in his speech in Hindi.
“I understand that if they don’t vote, the Women’s Reservation Bill will fall through, but the women of the country are watching to see who the obstacle in their path is,” he said, urging the Opposition to support the bill.
When Congress MP K.C.Venugopal asked for written assurance on a 50 percent clause for increase in Lok Sabha seats, Shah assured him of carrying out such an amendment mentioning the increase if the Opposition agreed.
“I want to tell…that the proposal put forward by the Congress party in the absence of Rahul Gandhi is a premeditated trap, through which women’s reservation will again not be implemented before 2029,” he said. “Therefore, when they say that our states should have equal burden, I agree. Women’s reservation should happen before 2029. We will not let their conspiracy to postpone it after 2029 succeed.”
The Union Home Minister said that in the 543-member House, the number of voters is 49 lakh in some constituencies, while it is at 60,000 in others.
“And there are many seats that were frozen in the 1970s. Since then, they have grown so large that an MP cannot even show face to voters, because how can one handle such a huge population,” he said, justifying the need for the exercise.
Shah recalled that in 1972, under the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the government introduced the Delimitation Bill, which increased the number of parliamentary seats from 525 to 545 and then froze this number.
“In 1976, during the Emergency, the process of delimitation was formally suspended through the 42nd Amendment, again under Indira Gandhi’s leadership. At that time, the Congress government enacted laws to halt delimitation. Today, even while in opposition, the Congress continues to oppose the resumption of delimitation. Thus, the Congress originally denied the people the benefits of delimitation, and it is the same party that continues to do so today,” he said.
Replying to the concerns raised by a number of members about why delimitation should be brought now, Shah said the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam mentions that after the Census to be conducted post-2026, women’s reservation will be ensured in the subsequent delimitation.
“Now they say, why was such a mention made when bringing the bill? We did not do this. In 1971, there was Indira Gandhi’s government; it was then that they froze it, and only by lifting the freeze on the number of seats can the implementation of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam happen, which is why we have brought it.”
Shah also justified the reasons for the delay in conducting the Census exercise. “Some members raised questions about why the Census was not conducted on time. Everyone knows the Census was scheduled for 2021, but the century’s biggest pandemic crisis, COVID, prevented its execution that year. After the COVID crisis ended, it took the country quite some time to recover from it,” he said.
“When the Census began in 2024, some parties rightly demanded that it should be conducted on the basis of caste. The government held discussions with numerous parties, caste groups, state governments, and several social groups, and decided that we will conduct a caste census. And after this decision, the Census is now underway.”
Shah again reiterated that a decision was taken by the government to conduct the 2026 census along with caste.
“Ever since this bill was introduced, the Opposition has started spreading some misconceptions that the government has brought a constitutional amendment to delay the caste census. I want to clarify that three months ago, we had already announced the complete timetable for the caste census—there’s no question of delaying it. The caste census has already begun, and its first phase is underway. I want to clarify to the 140 crore people that the decision made by Shri Narendra Modi ji’s Cabinet is to conduct a caste census alongside the 2026 census proposal,” he said.
Shah also came down heavily on those creating a ‘north-south’ narrative to divide the country.
“Let me make this clear once again: the southern states have exactly the same rights in this House as the northern states. In fact, even a small Union Territory like Lakshadweep has the same rights as Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Bihar,” he said.
“This country should not be divided through such narratives, neither a North-South narrative nor any other divisive framing. It should not be broken into pieces on such lines. Those who have taken the constitutional oath in their hands are now trying to promote a North-South division narrative. We will not allow this to happen…”
Shah also outlined the objectives of the three bills. “First, the constitutional amendment aimed at women’s empowerment should be implemented in a time-bound manner so that the 2029 election can be held with women’s reservation,” he said. “Second: One person-one vote-one value… This principle, which is at the core of our Constitution and was determined by the Constituent Assembly, should be implemented in the spirit of that Constitution.”
The Union Home Minister categorically said that the Opposition’s demand to introduce reservation for women on the basis of religion was unconstitutional and dubbed it as appeasement politics.
The Constitution, he said, does not recognise reservations based on religion.
“Despite this, the INDIA bloc—motivated by appeasement politics—seeks to demand reservations for Muslims, even as they cite the Constitution in support of their position. Some members here have spread the misconception that Muslim women should get reservations. I want to clarify the policies of the Constitution here. The Indian Constitution does not accept reservations based on religion.
“They want to raise the demand for Muslim reservations due to their politics of appeasement, and they talk about the Constitution. Someone please tell me in which article of the Constitution, there is a provision for reservations based on religion,” he said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also read: Why is Modi govt pushing hard for delimitation? Rahul says answer lies in ‘number 16’