Constitution Amendment Bill linked to women's reservation fails in Lok Sabha by 298 to 230 margin

The Lok Sabha on Friday rejected a bill that sought to fast-track the implementation of women's reservation and carry out delimitation without conducting a fresh Census.

Out of 528 members who participated in the vote, 298 backed the Bill while 230 opposed it. It fell short of the 352 votes the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) needed to secure the required two-thirds majority.

The bill had aimed to bypass the requirement of a new Census for delimitation, a provision that has remained central to the rollout of women’s quota in legislatures.

After the Bill failed to secure the required two-thirds majority, the Union Minister Kiren Rijiju urged Speaker Om Birla not to proceed with two other legislations -- the Delimitation Bill, 2026 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill,



2026.

The development comes amid a special three-day sitting of Parliament from April 16 to 18, convened to consider amendments to the "Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam", or the Women's Reservation Act. The law provided for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.

The proposed amendments were aimed at enabling the implementation of the quota by 2029. They also sought to expand the strength of the Lok Sabha to 850 seats from the current 543 in order to operationalise the reservation framework ahead of the next general elections.

As part of the plan, delimitation is to be carried out based on the last published Census, a move that has drawn objections from the opposition. Several opposition parties have opposed the amendments in Parliament and demanded that the Centre withdraw them.