What the Bill Does
On April 11, 2026, the government circulated the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-first Amendment) Bill to Members of Parliament. It is scheduled for formal introduction in Lok Sabha on April 16, during a special session. The bill does three things simultaneously:
1. Expand the Lok Sabha
The bill raises the maximum number of elected Lok Sabha members from 550 (530 states + 20 UTs) to 850 (815 states + 35 UTs). This is a ceiling — the actual number will be determined by the Delimitation Commission. Reports indicate the plan is 816 seats: the current 543 plus 273 new constituencies, all reserved for women.
2. Activate women's reservation
The 106th Amendment (2023), known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, promised one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. But it included a catch: the reservation would only take effect after a delimitation exercise based on the first census taken after 2023. Since no census has been conducted since 2011, the provision remained dormant.
This bill removes that requirement. It allows delimitation — and thus women's reservation — to proceed using the latest published census, which is currently the 2011 census.
3. Rewrite the delimitation framework
This is the component with the most far-reaching consequences. The bill amends the definition of "population" in six constitutional articles, replacing a fixed reference ("the last preceding census") with a flexible one ("such census as Parliament may by law determine"). It also deletes the constitutional freeze that has kept seat allocation based on 1971 census data for the past 50 years.
