File Photo: Lok Sabha | Photo Credit: PTI

Three new bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday to implement women’s reservation, with Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal stating that the House’s strength would increase from 543 to 815 seats, of which 272 would be reserved for women.

He also assured that neither men nor any state will suffer any loss due to the implementation of this quota, allaying apprehensions of the Opposition which is opposing the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, the Delimitation Bill, 2026, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, on the grounds that it will attack the fundamental federal structure of the Constitution and create geographical imbalance in terms of representation between the northern and southern states. The delimitation will take place on the basis of the 2011 Census and not as per the ongoing 2027 Census, which is another bone of contention between the Opposition and the treasury benches.

Given that the Opposition went ahead with its strategy of unitedly opposing the three bills at the time of introduction only, it led to a fiery 40-minute debate which culminated in the opposition pressing for the division of votes to introduce the Constitutional (131st Amendment) Bil.

The legislation got 251 votes in favour while 185 votes were cast against its introduction as the extended budget session resumed with a three-day special sitting. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to speak later in the day on the bills.

Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal told the House that the Lok Sabha’s strength would be increased by 50 per cent, with 272 of the 815 seats reserved for women, in line with the 33 per cent quota.

“According to the women’s reservation provisions, the strength of the Lok Sabha will increase to 815, of which 272 seats will be reserved for women,” he said.

According to him, the expansion has been structured to ensure that neither male representation nor any state’s share of seats would be reduced. The proportional allocation of seats among states will remain unchanged.

Meghwal also said that within the women’s quota, reservations would be provided for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in both the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

Calling the bills a step toward implementing the “historic decision of 2023,” the Union Minister urged all members to support them unanimously, citing constitutional provisions under Article 368(2) that empower Parliament to amend the Constitution.

Opposition members raised concerns over the timing and intent of the legislation. Senior Congress leader K.C. Venugopal questioned why the government had not implemented women’s reservation earlier, particularly in 2024, and alleged that the bill could impact the federal structure.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah hit back, saying the Census 2027 is on and the Centre has also decided to go for caste enumeration, but reservation based on religion is “unconstitutional”.

DMK MPs were wearing black clothes in the Lok Sabha to protest amendments to the women’s reservation law. “We favour the 2023 women’s quota law, but the present Bill is aimed at delimitation,” DMK’s T R Baalu said.

“Government is bulldozing delimitation in the name of women’s reservation,” Gaurav Gogoi said in his intervention in the debate on the bills.

The Opposition is up in arms as the southern states stand to lose seats if the delimitation is done on the basis of the 2011 Census. Kerala would get 23 seats (additional 3) but should have got 31 if its present share was maintained. Hence it is a loss of 8 seats. UP should have had 125 but would have 138, gain of 13, said psephologist-cum-politician Yogendra Yadav who also attended the INDIA bloc meeting.

Tamil Nadu which has 39 seats will add 11 seats as per 2011 Census but it is actually a loss of 11 seats if its present share was maintained. Likewise, AP will gain nine seats to add to its present LS tally of 25 but it is actually a loss of five seats, as per a breakup shared on X by Yadav.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that discussion on the three key Bills will be held for 15-18 hours, with voting scheduled at 4 pm on Friday, as the House set the timetable for deliberations during the special session of Parliament.

Published on April 16, 2026