The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, The Delimitation Bill, 2026, and The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 were introduced in the Lok Sabha today. The PRS team prepared a research note highlighting issues for consideration in the three Bills.
Here are some insights you may find interesting:
• The Constitution Amendment Bill provides no constitutional certainty regarding the periodicity of delimitation and use of the latest census. It provides that Parliament will decide by law when to carry out delimitation, and which census to use. Parliament could make these decisions with a simple majority.
• The Delimitation Bills allow the next delimitation to be based on the 2011 census figures. This change may lead to a significant shift in the share of states in the total Lok Sabha seats. This will be maintained even if the total Lok Sabha seats increase (as per the Constitution Amendment Bill). (refer the document for state-wise details)
• Increasing the size of the Lok Sabha may have some implications. This may change the relative size of the Lok Sabha with Rajya Sabha. The ratio of seats between Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will change from 2.2:1 to 3.3:1.
• Increasing the Lok Sabha size may increase the size of the Council of Ministers. The Constitution limits the size of the Council of Ministers at 15% of the total Lok Sabha MPs. The reason for doing so was to prohibit the constitution of an abnormally large Council of Ministers by law. This raises a key question about whether this limit should be revisited.
• A larger Lok Sabha limits opportunities for Members of Parliament (MPs) to participate in house proceedings.
• The Constitution Amendment Bill introduces the term ‘Delimitation Commission’ to the Constitution but does not define it.
Bill Summaries: The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, The Delimitation Bill, 2026, and The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026
Yashika Kedia
PRS Legislative Research Institute for Policy Research Studies
Monday, April 20, 2026