Govt tables Constitution amendment, delimitation Bills in Lok Sabha amid opposition criticism

Union Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday introduced the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill 2026 and the Delimitation Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha. The Opposition, meanwhile, raised concerns over the proposed changes to the women's reservation law that had been earlier passed by the Parliament.

Congress member KC Venugopal, while opposing the Bills, accused the government of "hijacking the Constitution". Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav demanded that the government should conduct the Census first, adding that the party was in full support of women reservation but was against the Centre's delimitation process.

Meanwhile, the Union Home Minister hit back at the Akhilesh Yadav's census issue reiterating that the decision of conducting caste census had already been taken by the government and the 2027 census is being done with focus on caste.

Moreover, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also proposed to introduce the Union Territories Law (Amendment) Bill, 2026.

The three-day special sitting of the extended Budget Session began today and will continue till April 18.

The draft Constitution Amendment Bill to pre-pone commencement of the 33 per cent women's reservation in Lok Sabha and state assemblies proposes to raise the current strength of the Lok Sabha from 543 to 850

The draft of the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill 2026 seeks to use the 2011 Census data to enhance the strength of Lok Sabha and state assemblies to provide one third seats for women.

Amending Article 55 of the Constitution, the Bill says, "In Article 55 of the Constitution, for the term — Explanation — the following explanation will be substituted — ‘In this article the expression population means the population as ascertained at such Census, as Parliament may by law determine under Article 82 or Article 10, of which the relevant figures have been published’."

Since the only published data available is of the 2011 Census, the Bill will use that data for delimitation and reservation. It further amends Article 81, which deals with the structure of the Lok Sabha.

The outcome of this amendment will raise the Lok Sabha strength to 850 MPs.

The Bill says, "In Article 81 of the Constitution (a) For clause (1), the following clause shall be substituted namely — The House of the People shall consist of not more than 815 members chosen by direct elections from territorial constituencies in states and not more than 35 members to represent the UTs chosen in such manner as Parliament may by law provide," says the Bill.

It also proposes to set up a Delimitation Commission to conduct the reservation exercise.