3 min readNew DelhiApr 17, 2026 04:48 PM IST First published on: Apr 17, 2026 at 04:33 PM ISTWith numbers in the Lok Sabha stacked against it, the Constitution amendment bills dealing with operationalising the women’s quota and delimitation, which is set to be put to a vote in the Lok Sabha around 6 pm, are likely to fail. Several sources in the government indicated to The Indian Express that the government was not inclined to withdraw the Bills and would rather have it fall in the House at the hands of the Opposition.Sources said attempts were made to reach out to the Samajwadi Party and some other Opposition parties during the day in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the Bills, but the attempts were learnt to have been unsuccessful.AdvertisementA meeting of key BJP leaders and ministers was also held by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament to deliberate on the strategy. “We don’t have the numbers. Let the Opposition defeat the Bills. They will have to answer to people,” said a senior BJP leader.Another minister, holding a Cabinet portfolio, said the party was planning to “go to the people” by 6 pm.Indicating the possible strategy, an NDA leader said the idea was to let the Bills be defeated and then project itself as a “martyr” in the cause of women’s rights.Advertisement“The Opposition appears united. They do not want to let the Bills pass. In such a situation, we have no option but to become martyrs. As of now, there is no indication of the Bills being withdrawn. That would kind of look bad. The defeat of the Bills can be weaponised politically against the Opposition,” the leader said.A senior Opposition leader confirmed that overtures were made to some parties, but the Opposition stands united. “It has been decided that the delimitation needs to be deferred. So there is no question of agreeing to these Bills even if the promise of proportionality and pro-rata distribution of increased seats among states (in the Delimitation Bill) is believed and accepted. We know why they want delimitation,” said a senior leader from the Opposition.you may likeThe Constitutional amendment Bills in the three-Bill legislative package, which are crucial to the early implementation of the women’s reservation law — officially titled the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam — require a two-thirds majority in the House. With the Opposition closing ranks, the government appears headed for a rare legislative setback.At the heart of the legislation is the contentious issue of delimitation — the redrawing of Lok Sabha constituencies based on population. The current freeze on delimitation, in place since the 1970s to avoid penalising states that successfully controlled population growth, is set to end after the first Census conducted post-2026.The government’s push has been to delink women’s reservation from this timeline by enabling an earlier delimitation exercise, thereby operationalising the 33% quota for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. The Opposition, however, has argued that any such move could alter the federal balance and disproportionately increase the representation of northern states at the expense of southern states.