Lok Sabha: Vote division at introduction of Constitution Amendment Bill signals outcome on Friday

The introduction of three Bills aimed at advancing women’s reservation to 2029—the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026; the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026; and the Delimitation Bill, 2026—was taken up in the Lok Sabha following a simple division of votes, an exercise that also indicated how the numbers may stack up when the key legislation to amend the Constitution is taken up for a special division at 4 pm on Friday.

The Bills were introduced after a fiery 40-minute debate after which the Opposition pressed for the division of votes to introduce the Constitutional (131st Amendment) Bill. However, any Bill to amend the Constitution must be passed by both Houses of Parliament with a special majority. By demanding a division of votes to ascertain whether the Lok Sabha approved the introduction of the three Bills, the Opposition appeared to be testing the waters on its numerical strength, observers said.

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Notably, the introduction of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 was cleared in the Lok Sabha with 251 votes in favour and 185 against. While the House granted permission for the introduction of the Bill by a simple majority of those present and voting, the number opposing the motion reflects how the numbers may stack up when the Constitution amendment Bill is put to vote, where the government will require a special majority—two-thirds of members present and voting, and more than 50% of the total membership of the House. In case of a special majority keeping in mind the strength of the House on Thursday voting and present, the BJP-led Centre would have required around 290 votes for passage.

In the Lok Sabha, with a full strength of 543, the government would need around 360 votes if all members are present and voting. The NDA currently has about 293 seats, well short of the mark, making Opposition support crucial. The non-NDA INDIA bloc has around 240 MPs in the Lok Sabha. When the law was originally passed in September 2023, it received overwhelming support—454–2 in the Lok Sabha and a unanimous 214–0 in the Rajya Sabha. The result of the simple division today can be seen as an indication of what may happen tomorrow

The Bill proposes 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, expected to come into effect from the 2029 general elections following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census. Opposition parties, who are supporting 33 % reservation for women are objecting to delimitation based on old data, demanding that the exercise instead be based on a fresh caste-based Census.

Opposition leaders maintain that the real issue is delimitation, not reservation. While backing the 33% quota for women, the Congress and other opposition parties argue that the 2011 Census data also does not reflect significant demographic changes and migration patterns over the past decade and are demanding a caste census before any delimitation to ensure fair representation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Dalits, and Adivasis. Southern parties like DMK argue that the proposed delimitation penalises southern and smaller states that have successfully implemented population control, damaging federalism.