NDA suffers defeat in Lok Sabha on De-limitation and Women Reservation Bills

NewsGate Press Network

Modi government suffered a nasty political defeat in Lok Sabha on Friday the 17^th of April 2026 when a Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of seats of the Lok Sabha was defeated on the floor of the House.

When the votes were counted 298 MPs voted in support of the Bill while 230 MPs opposed it out of 528 members present in the Lok Sabha.

Since it was a constitution amendment bills that required, as per the law, a 2/3^rd majority, the Bill was defeated.

As per the calculation, the 2/3^rd majority mark was 352 votes which the Treasury Benches failed to achieve.

According to the proposed Constitution Amendment Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.

Seats were also to be increased in states and Union Territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.

During the debate on the Bill, in their attack on the ruling party the Opposition strongly objected to the Delimitation Bill and said the government should implement women’s reservation immediately in the existing strength of the Lok Sabha and not to link it with the proposed de-limitation exercise.

The Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, in his speech said the government  has “nothing to do with the empowerment of women” and is an “attempt to change the electoral map of India.

Nearly 130 members in Lok Sabha took part in the debate.

After the marathon debate, the Home Minister Amit Shah in his reply to the Bill slammed the opposition parties over their stance stating that when they will fight the next elections, they will face the wrath of women of India.

After the Lok Sabha failed to clear the Constitution Amendment Bill, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stood-up to withdraw the other two bills on de-limitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly Constituencies.