Fresh efforts by the Union government to secure passage of the Constitution amendment bill linked to women's reservation and delimitation gathered pace on Wednesday after Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule indicated that her party could back the legislation if it explicitly guarantees a uniform 50% increase in Lok Sabha seats for every state.
Her remarks came amid growing speculation that the Centre is preparing to reintroduce the bill after it failed to secure the constitutionally mandated two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha during the previous session.
The political developments have also fuelled speculation about the NCP (SP), a constituent of Maharashtra's opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), moving closer to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA). On Tuesday night, senior NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the presence of NCP leaders Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare, intensifying talk of possible efforts to reunite the rival factions.
“The new delimitation bill has not yet been introduced. If it includes a provision ensuring a 50% increase in seats for all states, we will discuss it within the INDIA bloc. If it serves the interests of the people, we will consider supporting it,” Sule said in Mumbai.
According to a person familiar with the matter, the government is considering modifying the proposed legislation to explicitly include a provision guaranteeing a proportional 50% increase in seats for every state. The person said the Centre is keen to introduce the bill if it has sufficient support to ensure its passage.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty First Amendment) Bill, 2026, along with the Delimitation Bill, was introduced in the Lok Sabha during the previous session. The proposed legislation seeks to redraw parliamentary constituencies using the 2011 Census as the basis, a prerequisite for implementing the 33% reservation for women in legislatures.
However, the Constitution amendment bill was defeated after receiving 298 votes in favour and 230 against, falling short of the required two-thirds majority in the Lower House. The NCP (SP) had voted against the proposal.
Under the government's plan, the maximum strength of the Lok Sabha would increase from 550 to 850 seats. The distribution of seats among states, the allocation of reserved constituencies and constituency boundaries would be determined by a delimitation commission using the latest available census, which in this case would be the 2011 Census.
Opposition parties, however, remained unconvinced, arguing that the government's assurance of a uniform 50% increase in Lok Sabha seats across all states was made only verbally and was absent from the text of the proposed legislation.
During the earlier debate, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had offered to move an official amendment incorporating the commitment to a 50% increase in seats in exchange for support for the women's reservation bill. Despite that offer, the Constitution amendment bill failed to pass.
“When the bill was earlier introduced we had assured all parties that all the states, including the southern ones, will benefit from the 50% increase in the seats. Several parties including the DMK in Tamil Nadu, were assured that their representation would go up proportionally, but since they were bound by coalition compulsions (the DMK was part of the INDIA bloc) they ended up opposing it,” said a government functionary.
The political arithmetic has shifted since then. Twenty of the 28 Trinamool Congress MPs have joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India, signalling support for the NDA. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which has 22 MPs, has fallen out with the Congress and has not attended INDIA bloc meetings. More recently, six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs switched allegiance to the Shiv Sena.
The ruling alliance is also hopeful of securing backing from non-aligned parties such as the YSR Congress Party, the DMK and even INDIA bloc partners including the NCP (SP).
Support from the DMK, which has 22 Lok Sabha MPs and eight Rajya Sabha members, as well as the Samajwadi Party, which has 37 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 10 in the Rajya Sabha, is considered crucial. If all members vote, the NDA would require 360 votes in the Lok Sabha to secure passage of the bill.
Congress Rajya Sabha Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh said the government had not contacted the party regarding the proposed legislation. Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien also said there had been no outreach from the Centre on any revised delimitation bill.
“We want the women’s reservation law to be implemented before the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. We will not allow the government to use delimitation as a tool to weaken the Opposition across the country. So far, we have not received any communication from the BJP or the government on this,” SP spokesperson Abbas Haider said.
A DMK lawmaker said the party would refrain from commenting on the proposed legislation until it hears the government's position at the all-party meeting scheduled for Sunday.
A Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP said Shah had assured Parliament that the commitment on increasing the number of seats would be incorporated into the legislation.
“We are confident they will change the text of the bill. That’s what HM said on the floor of the house so we are confident it will be done and passed.”
The NDA currently has 293 members in the 540-member Lok Sabha and requires 360 votes to pass the Constitution amendment bill. In the 245-member Rajya Sabha, where 164 votes are needed, the ruling alliance presently has 149 members.
Speaking in Mumbai, Sule said her party had earlier conveyed its concerns over the proposed legislation during discussions with Shah and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju. She said the Centre had assured opposition parties that issues relating to a 50% cap on the increase in seats would be addressed in the bill, but those assurances were not reflected in the version introduced previously.
“We unanimously supported the women’s reservation bill. As far as the delimitation bill is concerned, it must clearly state that the number of seats in all states will increase by 50% in equal proportion,” she said. “There should also be a 50% cap so that no state faces injustice.”
Sule also said the legislation should clearly spell out the formula proposed for delimitation in every constituency, while emphasising that her party has not yet taken an official position on the bill.
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