PM Levels Baseless Accusations Against Opposition After Setback in Controversial Constitution Amendment Bill

New Delhi: The 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill — which sought to increase Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 816 and implement 33 per cent women's reservation, but was widely condemned for bundling a controversial delimitation exercise based on the 2011 census — has been defeated in the Lok Sabha. The bill was voted down after nearly 22 hours of debate during a special session of Parliament, with 298 members voting in favour and 230 against, out of 528 who participated in the division.

The defeat marks a significant setback for the Modi government, which had grown accustomed to pushing through legislation by virtue of its parliamentary majority. The bill had been introduced alongside a Delimitation Bill and a Union Territory Law Amendment Bill.

In the immediate aftermath of the defeat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation and trained his fire on the opposition, accusing them of spreading lies to sabotage women's reservation. "Women's reservation is the need of the hour. Congress and its allies spread falsehoods and conspired to ensure the bill did not pass. The opposition has looted women of their rights and stood in the way of the nation's progress," Modi said.

The opposition, however, rejected the framing outright. Opposition parties had argued consistently that the bill's real intent was not women's empowerment but a calculated redistribution of parliamentary seats that would weaken the political representation of southern states and entrench northern dominance at the Centre for decades. They maintained that using women's reservation as a cover for an anti-federal delimitation exercise was a cynical ploy, and that the government's refusal to delink the two issues was itself evidence of bad faith.

The bill's defeat in the Lok Sabha, where the government had expected to prevail, represents one of the most consequential parliamentary reversals for the BJP-led NDA in recent memory.