Union Parliament, through a special sitting on April 16, 2026, is expected to introduce the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026. The Bill is not yet publicly available but has been circulated among members of Parliament and related offices. The Union government also aims to introduce two more interlocking pieces of legislation during this sitting: the Delimitation Bill, 2026, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026. Taken together, they propose the most significant restructuring of India’s electoral and federal framework since independence.
At a Glance
- Lok Sabha expansion: Total seats rise from 543 to 850, with 815 from states and 35 from Union Territories.
- Delimitation delinked from the Census: Delimitation can now be initiated at any time, based on whichever published census Parliament designates; it no longer needs to wait for a new census to be completed.
- Women’s reservation fast-tracked: The 33% reservation for women can come into force before the 2029 general elections, no longer contingent on a fresh census.
- Delimitation Commission elevated: The Commission is named a constitutionally mandated authority for the first time.
- 1971 freeze lifted: The decades-old freeze on seat allocation and constituency boundaries, in place since 1971, is deleted entirely.
What Does the Bill Do?
A Much Larger Lok Sabha
The present strength of the Lok Sabha, as laid out in Article 81, is capped at 550 (530 seats from states and 20 from Union Territories). The Bill raises that ceiling sharply: 815 from states and 35 from UTs, an increase of 300 seats.
Redefining “Population”
Article 81 currently defines “population” as the population figure from the most recent published census. It further specifies that until the first census after 2026 is published, “population” means the 1971 census for the purpose of allocating seats to states, and the 2001 census for drawing constituency boundaries.
The Bill, across Articles 55, 81, 82, 170, 330, and 332, replaces this with a more flexible formulation: Parliament gains the power to choose which census to rely on, and when. The operative language defines population “as ascertained at such census, as Parliament may by law determine, of which the relevant figures have been published.”
Delinking Delimitation from the Census
One of the more significant changes is to Article 82, which currently requires that parliamentary constituencies be readjusted after each census. The Bill makes three changes here. First, it drops the requirement that a completed census must trigger delimitation; the exercise can now be initiated at any time, on the basis of whichever published census Parliament designates. Second, it names the Delimitation Commission as the constitutionally mandated authority for the exercise. Third, and most consequentially, it deletes the third proviso entirely, lifting the freeze on both seat allocation and constituency boundaries that has been in place since 1971.
Delimitation Commission Given Constitutional Status
The Bill amends Articles 82 and 170 to name the Delimitation Commission as the constitutionally mandated body for delimitation, replacing the existing formulation, which leaves the designation of the authority to Parliament by law.
Women’s Reservation
The Bill substitutes the entirety of Article 334A, as inserted by the 106th Amendment and the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023. This is arguably the most consequential change in the Bill.
Under the original Article 334A, the 33% women’s reservation was contingent on a delimitation exercise conducted after the publication of the first census taken following the Act’s commencement. In practice, this meant the reservation would not have come into force for several years, given the time required to conduct a census, publish its figures, and then complete a delimitation exercise.
The Bill removes this condition entirely. The new Article 334A requires only that a delimitation exercise be undertaken, with no stipulation as to which census it must refer to. Read alongside the proposed Delimitation Bill, 2026, which enables delimitation to proceed on the basis of the 2011 Census, women’s reservation can now come into force before the 2029 general elections.
The 15-year sunset clause, after which the reservation ceases to have effect, is retained. It will run from the commencement of the 106th Amendment in 2023, and Parliament is given the power to extend it by law.
The territorial scope of the reservation is also expanded to include the Legislative Assemblies of Puducherry and Jammu & Kashmir, bringing all directly elected legislative bodies within the reservation framework.
Potential Fallout
Since the Bill’s circulation, public debate over its timing and intent has been swift and sharp. Opposition leaders have called it a threat to India’s federal structure.
A similar pushback was mounted when delimitation was last conducted in 2022 for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which attracted widespread allegations of gerrymandering. With the new Bill, those concerns are magnified. A nationwide exercise, drawing on population data shaped by an incomplete and uneven census record (the 2021 Census, disrupted by the pandemic, has yet to be completed), carries risks at an exponentially larger scale.
A key concern is that the Bill is likely to advantage high-population northern states while reducing the weightage of southern states, especially those that have managed their populations more effectively over the past five decades. And while the stated objective of this parliamentary overhaul is to bring women’s reservation into force before the 2029 general elections, the underlying consequence may be a fundamental redistribution of political power across states.
A marked up version of the amended clauses of the Bill can be accessed here.