NDA's Push For Women Quota Bill Fails: Opposition's 5 Big Questions And Amit Shah's Blow-By-Blow Rebuttal

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Lok Sabha on Friday failed to pass the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which sought to tweak the old women's reservation bill and expand the Lok Sabha from 543 to 850 seats.

The BJP-led NDA government failed to secure the two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha to pass the bill, falling short by 62 votes. As per the number game, the NDA needed the support of 360 of 540 MPs in the Lower House. However, only 298 MPs voted in favour of the bill, and 230 voted against it.

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As the Constitution Amendment) Bill was not passed in the Lok Sabha, the government did not proceed with voting on the other two bills - the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the Delimitation Bill, 2026.

"...no further action will now be taken on the Union Territory Legislative Amendment Bill 2026 and the Delimitation Bill 2026, which were linked to the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill 2026,” the government said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and other NDA leaders had repeatedly appealed to the Opposition to support the bill to "empower the women", but the latter advocated against it, saying that the Constitutional Amendment bill is not about women's reservation but an“attempt to change the electoral map of India.”

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Here are five reasons the Opposition opposed the bill - and a blow-by-blow response from Amit Shah.

NDA's women's reservation fails in Lok Sabha: What's next?

On Friday, the Lok Sabha rejected the Centre's proposal to expand the Lok Sabha's strength from 543 to 850 seats and allow delimitation of seats based on the 2011 Census. The Union Government wanted to implement these bills to tweak the Women's Reservation Act, which mandates a 33 per cent reservation for women.

The 2023 law mandated a Census and delimitation exercise before the implementation of the 33 per cent women's reservation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. However, the three new bills sought to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats and remove the provision that mandated delimitation after each census.

While introducing the bill on Thursday, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwa had said, "There will be an equal, 50 per cent increase in the strength of Lok Sabha members, and this will translate to 815 seats, of which 272 will be reserved for women, which comes to one-third of the strength of the House. There will be no loss to anyone (states), and they will retain their strength."

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Now that the Constitutional Amendment failed to get passed in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the Women's Reservation Act of 2023, which mandates 33 per cent reservation for women, is in effect.

The Act is in force in its existing form, which means it still requires the Census and delimitation to happen first to implement the 33 per cent reservation.

"We are in favour of women's reservation. If the government implements the Women's Reservation Bill passed in 2023, the entire Opposition will support it without exception," Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said.

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