The women's reservation package is voted down 298 to 230. The arithmetic explains the result

For the first time since the government came to power in 2014, a Bill introduced by it was defeated in Parliament. On April 17 the Lok Sabha voted down the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 by 298 votes to 230, with 528 members taking part in the division. A constitutional amendment requires two-thirds of those present and voting, which on that count meant 352.

1. 1.528 — members who participated in the division.
2. 2.352 — the two-thirds threshold, and therefore the number needed to pass.
3. 3.298 — votes in favour. Fifty-four short.
4. 4.230 — votes against.
5. 5.543 — the Lok Sabha's present sanctioned strength, which the Bill proposed to expand.

The Bill was an attempt to solve a genuine procedural problem. Women's reservation for a third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies was enacted in 2023, but it would not take effect until after the next delimitation, and delimitation required a fresh Census. The 2027 Census will not produce usable population figures until after the 2029 election. The amendment was the route around that deadlock: use the 2011 Census for delimitation, enlarge the House, and activate the quota on schedule.

The objection, and the offer on the table

The objection was not to women's reservation. It was to the mechanism. Opposition parties argued that delimits on 2011 data would freeze the electoral map for a decade, penalising states whose populations have grown more slowly than the national average and reducing their representation in absolute terms even where the Bill promised a uniform percentage increase. Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition, called it an attempt to alter India's electoral structure rather than a women's bill.

Late in the debate, Home Minister Amit Shah offered to move an amendment guaranteeing that every state's representation in the Lok Sabha rose by at least 50 per cent — an explicit undertaking, on the record, rather than an assurance in the Statement of Objects and Reasons. The offer was conditional on the House suspending proceedings for an hour. Congress leader K.C. Venugopal accepted only in part, asking that the guarantee be written into the Bill itself and that a separate amendment delink women's reservation from delimitation. The House did not suspend, and the vote followed.

After the count, Union minister Kiren Rijiju withdrew the Bill, and the government also withdrew the two measures that depended on it, the Delimitation Bill, 2026 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The Prime Minister had framed the outcome in terms of women watching, and the government's stated position remained that it was committed to the reservation and would pursue another route.