New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Thursday (April 16) saw heated exchanges between the opposition and treasury benches as the Union government tabled its three bills to “operationalise” 33% reservation for women by bringing in a constitutional amendment to expand the strength of the Lok Sabha and accompanying bills on delimitation and Union Territories.The three bills – the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Delimitation Bill, 2026 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 faced opposition at the introduction stage itself, leading to a division of votes on whether the constitutional amendment could be introduced in the House.After the opposition’s insistence on a division of votes, the final tally on the voting on the introduction of the Constitution Amendment Bill, showed that a total 436 members were present in the house, with 251 members who voted in favour, and 185 who voted against.If this tally stands, the required special majority, i.e., two-thirds of members present and voting to get the constitutional amendment passed stands at 290. While more members may come for the voting on the Bill, scheduled for 4 pm Friday, the introduction of the Bills itself has set the stage for a close match ahead over the Modi government seeking to alter the fundamental electoral architecture of the country.The three bills were brought to the House on Thursday as a three-day special session of parliament has been called to clear the 2023 Women’s Reservation Act that provided for 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state legislatures.However, the 2023 legislation was tied to delimitation and the nationwide census. In the constitutional amendment tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, the Union government has stated its objective as to “operationalise” women’s reservation.The Wire has reported that the constitutional amendment bill along with its accompanying delimitation bill seek to bring in large-scale changes that will not just increase the strength of the Lok Sabha to 850 but result in a significantly altered parliamentary arithmetic and change centre-state relations.Opposition at introduction stageWhen the Bills were introduced, opposition MPs opposed the introduction, while treasury benches including union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju and home minister Amit Shah said that objections on the contents of the bills cannot be raised at the introduction stage. Opposition members said that they supported reservation for women, the constitutional amendment seeks to alter representation in parliament, and ties it to the 2011 census even as the 2027 census is underway.Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that members can only raise objections to the contents of the bills during the discussion and can only oppose the introduction on technical grounds under Rule 72 including on whether parliament has legislative competence to bring them.Amid objections from the opposition benches, Birla asked: “Are you against women’s reservation?”The introduction of the bills was opposed by Congress MP K.C. Venugopal, TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Pradhan, DMK MP T.R. Baalu, AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, RSP MP N.K. Premachandran, among others.Akhilesh Yadav, Shah spar over representation of Muslims, caste censusThe introduction stage also saw a heated exchange between Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Shah over the inclusion of reservation for Muslim women.Raising his objections, Samajwadi Party’s Dharmendra Yadav on behalf of his party had said that he opposes introduction of all three bills, and that his party cannot support the legislation unless OBC and Muslim women are included in it.“The manner in which delimitation is being delinked from the census is against the constitution. Women’s reservation is being used to conduct delimitation in the manner done in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam. We oppose this on behalf of the entire opposition. Under this bill unless women from backward communities and Muslims are included, Samajwadi Party will not support it,” he said.Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju rose to oppose Yadav’s remark saying that reservations cannot be granted on the basis of religion.Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned the government’s move to bring the legislation in a hurry before the Census 2027 is completed.“Once the census is completed, we will demand caste count. Once the caste census is done we will demand reservation. That is why you are deceiving everyone by bringing this now,” he said.Union home minister Amit Shah then rose to respond to Yadav and accused him of demanding quota for Muslims which is against the constitution.“The government has already taken the decision to conduct a caste census. They are saying that there is no caste column. Right now houses are being counted. Houses don’t have caste. If Samajwadi Party has its way, even houses will have caste. When citizens will be counted, the caste column will be there. This is my ministry. I want to assure the House, the census will include caste,” said Shah.“This government will not give reservations to women on the basis of religion. It is against the Constitution, and the question of such reservation does not ever rise,” he said.Yadav then accused Shah of giving an “un-democratic” statement and questioned if Muslim women are not a part of the half the population of the country that comprises women.“Women form half the population of this country. I want to ask the minister, do Muslim women not form a part of this half of the population of this country?” he asked.Shah then responded that if the Samajwadi Party wants it to give all its tickets to Muslim women, “we will have no objections”.Division of votes on introduction exposes close match to get constitutional amendment passedAmid opposition protests, Birla called for a voice vote on whether the bills should be introduced. Upon the opposition’s insistence, a division of votes was called for.The final tally on the voting on the introduction of the Constitution Amendment Bill, showed that a total 436 members were present in the house, with 251 members who voted in favour, and 185 who voted against. If this tally stands, the required special majority i.e. two thirds of members present and voting to get the constitutional amendment passed stands at 290.While the voting on the bill is to be taken up on Friday at 4pm, it is likely that more members from both the opposition and treasury benches may come to the House.The Lok Sabha’s effective strength, accounting for current vacancies, is 540. The absolute majority mark is 271. The magic figure, i.e. two-thirds of the seats, is at 360. With 294 members of its own, the ruling coalition is staring at a deficit of 66 votes.