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Informist, Thursday, Apr. 16, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The government Thursday introduced three key bills in the Lok Sabha to redraw constituencies, increase the strength of the House of the People, and operationalise women's reservation. Union Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal initiated the debate by presenting the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026. He also tabled The Delimitation Bill, 2026. Later, Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026.

 

The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill proposes a significant expansion of the Lok Sabha from 545 members to 850 members. The bill seeks to implement women's reservation in legislatures from the 2029 general election on the basis of the 2011 Census.

 

The Delimitation Bill provides for redrawing of seats in the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies in states and Union Territories. For the Lok Sabha, the revision is to be carried out on the basis of population using the 2011 Census.

 

The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill seeks to align electoral and administrative provisions in Union territories with the changes proposed under the women's reservation and delimitation-related legislation.

 

Opposition parties such as the Indian National Congress, Samajwadi Party, All India Trinamool Congress, and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam criticised the bills. Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav questioned the urgency for introducing the bills now. "Why is the Centre rushing for women's reservation?" he said. "Start with the census first." He said his party supports women's reservation in principle but opposes its implementation through delimitation.

 

Speaking to reporters, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the government has a plan to re-delimit the constituencies to increase the number of seats in areas where the ruling party is strong. The government is using women's reservation as an excuse to bring about that change by trying to amend the law they themselves had brought in in 2023, he said.

 

Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said the government is weakening the Constitution through these bills. The Constitution says delimitation will be done on the basis of the latest census, he said. "How is this in favour of women?" Gogoi said. "This bill is anti-women, anti-caste census, (anti-)federal structure of the country."

 

Biju Janata Dal President and former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik wrote a strong letter to all members of Parliament from his state, warning that the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill poses a serious threat to the state's long-term political and economic interests. The essence of Indian federalism lies in balanced representation and any delimitation exercise that alters this balance risks marginalising states like Odisha in national decision-making, he said.

 

Meghwal, while introducing the bill, said 272 seats in the expanded House will be reserved for women. Responding to Yadav on why the census was not being conducted, Shah said the process had begun. The government has taken a decision to conduct a caste census and enumeration is being carried out with caste data, the home minister said.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the issue of women's reservation "should not be evaluated from a political lens". "I want to say responsibly today that this will not discriminate against anyone. This decision process will not be unfair to anyone. The government that was in power earlier, the delimitation of the seats, and the ratio that has been in place since then, will remain unchanged."

 

Modi said those who had opposed reserving seats for women had not been forgiven by women and have faced the consequences. He said the quota should have been implemented 25-30 years ago.

 

Voting on the three bills will be held at 1600 IST Friday, according to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. He said there would be a debate of 15-18 hours on the three bills.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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