232. An amendment of the Constitution that be initiated for the introduction of a Bill for the purpose in either House of the Federal Parliament, and when the Bill is passed in each House by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting, it shall be presented to the President for his assent and upon such assent being given, the Bill containing such amendment shall come into operation:

Provided that if such amendment seeks to make any change in–

(a) the Federal Legislative List;

(b) the representation of units in the Federal Parliament; or

(c) the members of the Supreme Court,

this amendment shall also require to be ratified by the legislatures of units representing a majority of the population of all the units of the Federation in which units representing at least one-third of the population of the Federated States are included:

Provided further that the provisions of this Constitution relating to the reservation of seats for the Muslim community, the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Indian Christian community or the Sikh community either in the Federal Parliament or in any Provincial Legislature shall not be amended within the period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution and shall cease to have effect on the expiration of that period unless continued in operation by an amendment of the Constitution in the manner provided in this section.

Explanation (1): Where a unit consists of a group of States. the proposed amendment shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be ratified by the Legislature of the unit if it is ratified by the majority of the Legislatures of the States in the group.

Explanation (2): In this section, the expression “population” means the population as ascertained at the last preceding decennial census.