Delimitation Bill: Government Races to Secure 360 Votes Before Monsoon Session

The Narendra Modi government has revived efforts to secure the numbers needed to pass the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which seeks to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha from 543 to 850 and pave the way for a fresh delimitation exercise before the 2029 general election. The Bill also provides the constitutional basis for implementing the Women's Reservation law.

The legislation had failed to secure the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha when it was put to vote in April 2026. Since then, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has focused on expanding the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and reaching out to regional parties that had opposed or abstained on the Bill.

The urgency has increased ahead of the Monsoon session beginning on July 20. The recent induction of 20 Trinamool Congress MPs and six Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MPs into the NDA has strengthened the ruling coalition, while the Opposition has begun coordinating its strategy to prevent the government from crossing the constitutional threshold.

Under Article 368 of the Constitution, any constitutional amendment requires the support of at least two-thirds of members present and voting, while also constituting a majority of the total strength of the House. Assuming full attendance in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the government requires 362 votes. However, with three vacancies, the two-thirds threshold comes down to 360 votes.

When the Bill was voted upon in April, the NDA had 298 MPs, leaving it well short of the required figure. The Opposition largely voted together to defeat the legislation. Since then, the political arithmetic has shifted considerably. The NDA now claims the support of 329 Lok Sabha MPs after the entry of 20 Trinamool Congress members and six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs. While this narrows the gap, the alliance still remains 31 votes short of the two-thirds mark.

The BJP's calculations also extend beyond its formal allies and hinge on persuading regional parties to support the legislation by incorporating safeguards such as a uniform 50% increase in Lok Sabha seats across all States — an assurance several parties had sought earlier.

The April vote broadly reflected the political divide over delimitation rather than over women's reservation itself. Most parties in the INDIA bloc, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar), Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Left parties and others, opposed the Bill, arguing that the draft legislation lacked safeguards against population-based redistribution of seats that could reduce the political weight of southern States. Several regional parties also argued that assurances given during consultations — particularly regarding a uniform increase in seats for every State — did not figure in the text of the Bill introduced in Parliament.

The Congress has begun consultations with INDIA bloc partners to ensure that the arithmetic achieved in April does not majorly change during the Monsoon session. The party has accused the BJP of attempting to secure the required majority through defections rather than political consensus. Congress leaders have argued that the government should first place before Parliament a revised draft incorporating the assurances it had reportedly given to regional parties. For the Opposition, the immediate objective is to keep the NDA below the 360-vote threshold. Even if the ruling alliance emerges as the single largest bloc by a comfortable margin, failing to secure two-thirds support would once again prevent the Constitution amendment from being passed.