New Delhi/Mumbai: A renewed attempt by the Union government to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill on Women’s Reservation and Limitations gained momentum on Wednesday after NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule said her party would consider supporting the proposed legislation if it provided for a uniform 50% increase in Lok Sabha seats in all states.
This development came amid speculation that the government would reintroduce the bill, which failed to obtain the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha in the previous session. There is also a buzz that the Nationalist Congress Party (SP), a partner of the Maharashtra opposition party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), has been slowly inching closer to the ruling National Democratic Alliance. On Tuesday night, NCP leader Jayant Patil met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, in the presence of NCP leaders Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare, sparking rumors that efforts to reunite the two groups are gaining momentum.
“The new delimitation bill has not been introduced yet. If it includes a clause ensuring 50% increase in seats for all states, we will discuss it within the India Caucus. If it serves the interests of the people, we will consider supporting it,” Sule said in Mumbai.
A person familiar with the details said there was a possibility that the government would revise the text of the proposed bill to include a reference to the proportional increase in seats of 50% for each state. According to this person, the Union government was keen to submit the draft law “on the condition” that it had numbers.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-One Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the Delimitation Bill, which seeks to redraw boundaries based on the 2011 Census and is a prerequisite for implementing 33% quotas for women in legislatures, were introduced in the Lok Sabha in the previous session. But the Constitution Amendment Bill failed to obtain a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, where it was defeated by 298 votes to 230. At that time, the National Congress Party (Socialist Party) had voted against the bill.
The government’s legislative push included raising the maximum seats in the Lok Sabha from 550 to 850, with seats allocated to states, reserved constituencies and their boundaries to be determined by the Delimitation Commission on the basis of the last census, which means the 2011 census in this case.
But the Opposition remained unconvinced, pointing out that the government’s assurances of a uniform 50% increase in Lok Sabha seats in every state were verbal and were not mentioned in the text of the bills. In his speech at the time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah tried to turn the tables on the opposition, offering to bring forward a formal amendment indicating a 50% increase in Lok Sabha seats in exchange for support for the Women’s Reservation Bill. But the bill was still defeated.
“When the bill was introduced earlier, we had assured all parties that all states, including southern states, would benefit from the 50% increase in seats. Many parties, including the DMK in Tamil Nadu, were assured that their representation would rise proportionately, but since they were bound by alliance constraints (the DMK was part of the India bloc) they ended up opposing it,” a government employee said.
But the scenario has changed since then. Twenty of the 28 Trinamool Congress legislators have joined the Indian National Citizens Party, indicating their support for the NDA. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Party, which has 22 legislators, has had differences with the Congress and has not attended All India Caucus meetings. Recently, six MPs from the Shiv Sena (UBT) switched to the Shiv Sena. The polity now also depends on the support of non-aligned parties like the YSR Congress Party, the DMK and even from All India members like the NCP (SP).
Support from the DMK – which has 22 MPs in the Lok Sabha and eight in the Rajya Sabha – and the Samajwadi Party – which has 37 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 10 in the Rajya Sabha – remains crucial. If all MPs participate in the vote, the NDA will require 360 votes in the Lok Sabha.
Congress Rajya Sabha Chairman Jairam Ramesh told HT that the government has not reached out to them. TMC’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien said the government had not communicated any new demarcation bill.
“We want the Women’s Reservation Act to be implemented before the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. We will not allow the government to use demarcation as a tool to weaken the opposition across the country,” said Abbas Haider, SP spokesperson. So far, we have not received any communication from the BJP or the government on this matter.”
A DMK lawmaker said the party would not comment on the proposed bill until it hears the government at an all-party meeting scheduled for Sunday.
Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde said he is confident that the Women Reservation Bill and Delimitation Bill will be passed during the upcoming monsoon session.
Shah said assurances about increasing the number of seats will be included in the bill, an LDP lawmaker said. “We are confident that they will change the text of the bill. This is what His Majesty the King said on the floor of the Council, so we are confident that it will be accomplished and passed.”
In the current 540-member House, the NDA has 293 members and needs 360 to pass the bill, while it needs 164 votes in the 245-member Rajya Sabha, which currently has 149 members.
In Mumbai, Sule said the party had earlier expressed reservations about the proposed legislation during a meeting with Shah and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju. According to Sule, the Center has assured the opposition parties that their concerns, especially regarding a 50% cap on seat increase, will be addressed in the legislation. However, it claimed that these guarantees were not reflected in the previous version of the bill.
“We unanimously supported the Women’s Reservation Bill. As far as the delimitation bill is concerned, it should clearly state that the number of seats in all states will increase by 50% in equal proportions,” she said. “There should also be a 50% cap so that no country faces injustice.”
Sule also said that the bill should clearly define the proposed formula for demarcating boundaries in each electoral district. “We all know what happened with Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi’s Lok Sabha (Kaliapur) constituency in Assam during delimitation. So, we have concerns about the formula the government may adopt while redrawing constituency boundaries,” the Baramati MP said. But she clarified that the party has not yet taken an official position.
She also rejected speculations about her merging with Congress or her party joining the NDA. “We are part of the All India Alliance. We have neither received any proposal from the Congress nor given them any proposal on merger. Likewise, we have not received any proposal from the BJP nor given them any proposal. We are happy with where we are at the moment,” she said.
(With inputs from Saubhadra Chatterjee and Sanjay Maurya)
