This Was Never About Women
On 17 April 2026, the Lok Sabha rejected The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 [Delimitation Bills of 2026] which aimed to expand the Lok Sabha. The Amendment was disingenuously linked by the government to the Women’s Reservation Act 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam) when in fact they are two separate amendments.
It is important to note that the Women’s Reservation Act is the outcome of decades of advocacy by women’s organisations.
The Delimitation Bill aimed to expand the number of seats in the Lok Sabha from 543 to 850, based on the population of states in India in 2011, when the last Census of India was conducted.
This would effectively mean that several states in northern India, which have higher populations (on account of poor human development indicators), would have greater representation in Parliament. This would in turn favour the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since the party has a stronger foothold in those states.
The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam guaranteeing 33% reservation of seats for women not only in the Lok Sabha, but also in Legislative Assemblies in all states and union territories, was passed by Parliament unanimously in 2023. The Act (more popularly known as the Women’s Reservation Act) actually came into force on 16 April 2026.
What was defeated in Parliament on 17 April was the amendment deviously attempting to link women’s reservation to delimitation, based on data from a 15-year-old Census.
Some media outlets and social media influencers have been presenting the defeat of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 as an anti-women development to be blamed on Opposition parties, thereby whitewashing the blatant attempt to push through delimitation in the guise of the political empowerment of women.
Related reading on women’s reservation:
