India's Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill 2026 — which sought to redistribute Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) seats based on the 2011 census as part of a package to accelerate women's legislative quotas — was defeated on 17 April after failing to secure the two-thirds majority required for constitutional changes, with 298 votes in favour and 230 against out of 528 present. Following the defeat, the government announced it would also shelve two related bills, saying the legislation could not be viewed in isolation; Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju called the outcome "a missed opportunity for consensus." Opposition leaders, including Congress's Rahul Gandhi, framed the bill as an attempt to redraw India's electoral map at the expense of southern and smaller states, while Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin declared "Tamil Nadu defeats Delhi" in a widely shared social media post.
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Constitution Amendment Bill for delimitation defeated in India's Lok Sabha, government shelves related legislation[Updated]
The day after the bill's defeat, the BJP formally characterised 17 April as a "black day" in Indian parliamentary history, accusing Congress and its Opposition allies of betraying women by voting down the legislation. Congress, in turn, demanded the government implement the existing 2023 Women's Reservation Act on the basis of the Lok Sabha's current strength of 543 seats, rather than waiting for a fresh census or delimitation exercise. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reiterated that the bill's defeat represented a victory for both the Constitution and Opposition unity, while Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh joined her at a press conference to press those demands.
The bill's defeat marked the first time in 12 years of power that a constitutional amendment proposed by Modi's BJP government had been rejected by parliament. The proposed delimitation exercise would have increased the number of Lok Sabha seats from 543 to approximately 850. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge celebrated the outcome as a united opposition victory against an attempt to "harm this country's democracy, Constitution and federalism," and renewed calls for the government to implement the existing 33% women's reservation law — passed in 2023 under the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam — starting from the 2029 elections. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M. K. Stalin declared that "the South stood united, made its voice heard and democracy prevailed," while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra described the bill as an "open attack" on democracy.