Constitutional Amendments

How Often Has the Constitution Been Amended?

106 Amendment Acts as of 2026

The Constitution has been amended 106 times, the latest being the 106th Amendment (women's reservation) in 2023. Amendment Bills are numbered separately from Amendment Acts, which is why a bill such as the "130th Amendment Bill" can exist while only 106 Acts are in force: many bills lapse, are withdrawn or fail. Article 368 sets out the procedure.

• Latest Amendment Act: the 106th (2023).
• Bill numbers run ahead of Act numbers because many bills never pass.
• The 42nd Amendment (1976) is the most extensive, often called the "mini-Constitution".

Act of 1951

1st Amendment

Ninth Schedule, Article 15(4), restrictions on speech

The first amendment, passed by the Provisional Parliament. It added Article 15(4) (special provisions for backward classes, SCs and STs), added "public order", "friendly relations with foreign States" and "incitement to an offence" as grounds for restricting free speech under Article 19(2), inserted Articles 31A and 31B, and created the Ninth Schedule to protect land reform laws from judicial challenge. Its validity was upheld in Shankari Prasad (1951).

Act of 1952

2nd Amendment

Readjusting representation in the Lok Sabha

Removed the upper limit of population for a parliamentary constituency, readjusting the scale of representation in the Lok Sabha.

Act of 1954

3rd Amendment

Essential commodities

Re-enacted entry 33 of the Concurrent List to cover trade and commerce in, and production, supply and distribution of, foodstuffs, cattle fodder, raw cotton, jute and similar essential commodities.

Act of 1955

4th Amendment

Compensation for acquired property

Made the adequacy of compensation for property acquired by the State non-justiciable, extended Article 31A and added more Acts to the Ninth Schedule, in response to judgments such as Bela Banerjee (1954).

Act of 1955

5th Amendment

Time limit for states on reorganisation

Empowered the President to fix a time limit within which state legislatures must express their views on proposed Central laws altering their areas, boundaries or names.

Act of 1956

6th Amendment

Taxes on inter-state sales

Added taxes on the sale or purchase of goods in the course of inter-state trade to the Union List and restricted the states' power to tax such sales.

Act of 1956

7th Amendment

Reorganisation of states on linguistic lines

Implemented the States Reorganisation Act 1956 on the recommendations of the Fazl Ali Commission. It abolished the Part A, B, C and D classification of states, reorganised them into 14 states and 6 Union Territories, allowed a common High Court for two or more states, and provided for additional and acting judges of High Courts.

Act of 1959

8th Amendment

Reservation in legislatures extended to 1970

Extended the reservation of seats for SCs and STs, and the nomination of Anglo-Indians, in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies by ten years, to 1970. Such ten-year extensions followed in the 23rd, 45th, 62nd, 79th, 95th and 104th Amendments.

Act of 1960

9th Amendment

Transfer of territory to Pakistan (Berubari)

Gave effect to the Nehru–Noon agreement with Pakistan by transferring parts of Berubari Union and other territories. It followed the Supreme Court's Berubari opinion (1960) that ceding Indian territory required a constitutional amendment.

Act of 1961

10th Amendment

Dadra and Nagar Haveli

Incorporated Dadra and Nagar Haveli into India as a Union Territory.

Act of 1961

11th Amendment

Election of the Vice-President

Changed the election of the Vice-President from a joint sitting of both Houses to an electoral college of members of both Houses, and provided that an election of the President or Vice-President cannot be challenged on the ground of a vacancy in the electoral college.

Act of 1962

12th Amendment

Goa, Daman and Diu

Incorporated Goa, Daman and Diu into India as a Union Territory after their liberation from Portuguese rule in December 1961.

Act of 1962

13th Amendment

Nagaland

Gave Nagaland special protection under Article 371A, preparing for its statehood in 1963.

Act of 1962

14th Amendment

Pondicherry; legislatures for UTs

Incorporated Pondicherry (the former French territories) as a Union Territory and allowed Parliament to create legislatures and councils of ministers for certain Union Territories (Article 239A).

Act of 1963

15th Amendment

High Court judges retire at 62

Raised the retirement age of High Court judges from 60 to 62 and allowed High Courts to issue writs outside their territory where the cause of action arises within it.

Act of 1963

16th Amendment

Sovereignty and integrity

Allowed reasonable restrictions on the freedoms of speech, assembly and association in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, and added upholding sovereignty and integrity to the oaths of legislators and candidates.

Act of 1964

17th Amendment

Land reform and the Ninth Schedule

Extended the meaning of "estate" in Article 31A and added 44 more Acts to the Ninth Schedule. Its challenge led to Sajjan Singh (1965) and then Golak Nath (1967).

Act of 1966

18th Amendment

Reorganising states and UTs

Clarified that Parliament's power under Article 3 to form new states includes forming a new state or Union Territory by uniting a part of a state or UT with another. It enabled the Punjab reorganisation of 1966.

Act of 1966

19th Amendment

Election tribunals abolished

Abolished election tribunals and vested the trial of election petitions in the High Courts.

Act of 1966

20th Amendment

Validating UP district judge appointments

Validated appointments of district judges in Uttar Pradesh that the Supreme Court had declared void in Chandra Mohan v. State of UP (1966).

Act of 1967

21st Amendment

Sindhi added to the Eighth Schedule

Added Sindhi as the fifteenth language in the Eighth Schedule.

Act of 1969

22nd Amendment

Autonomous state within Assam

Allowed an autonomous state within Assam (Article 244A), which led to the creation of Meghalaya, first as an autonomous state and later as a full state (1972).

Act of 1969

23rd Amendment

Reservation extended to 1980

Extended the reservation of seats for SCs and STs and Anglo-Indian nomination to 1980, and discontinued ST reservation in Nagaland.

Act of 1971

24th Amendment

Parliament may amend any part, including rights

Passed to overcome Golak Nath (1967). It affirmed Parliament's power to amend any part of the Constitution, including fundamental rights, added Article 13(4) and 368(3) excluding amendments from Article 13, and made it compulsory for the President to give assent to Constitution Amendment Bills. Upheld in Kesavananda Bharati (1973), subject to the basic structure.

Act of 1971

25th Amendment

Article 31C: Directive Principles over rights

Replaced "compensation" in Article 31(2) with "amount", and inserted Article 31C, protecting laws giving effect to the Directive Principles in Article 39(b) and (c) from challenge under Articles 14, 19 and 31. Kesavananda upheld the first part of 31C but struck down the clause barring courts from examining whether a law actually gave effect to those principles.

Act of 1971

26th Amendment

Abolition of privy purses

Abolished the privy purses and privileges of the former rulers of the princely states, overcoming the Supreme Court's decision in Madhav Rao Scindia v. Union of India (1970), the Privy Purses case.

Act of 1971

27th Amendment

Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh

Enabled the reorganisation of the North-East, with Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh as Union Territories with legislatures.

Act of 1972

28th Amendment

ICS privileges ended

Ended the special privileges of Indian Civil Service officers appointed before independence and empowered Parliament to vary their conditions of service.

Act of 1972

29th Amendment

Kerala land reform Acts in the Ninth Schedule

Placed two Kerala land reform Acts in the Ninth Schedule. The challenge to these Acts, among others, was the case that became Kesavananda Bharati.

Act of 1972

30th Amendment

Civil appeals on substantial questions of law

Replaced the monetary valuation test (₹20,000) for civil appeals to the Supreme Court with the test of a substantial question of law.

Act of 1973

31st Amendment

Lok Sabha to 545

Raised the upper limit of seats in the Lok Sabha from 525 to 545.

Act of 1973

32nd Amendment

Andhra Pradesh: Telangana and Andhra regions

Inserted Article 371D and 371E, making special provisions to protect the interests of people of the Telangana and Andhra regions in public employment and education, and providing for a central university in the state.

Act of 1974

33rd Amendment

Resignations of legislators

Provided that a resignation from Parliament or a state legislature may be accepted by the Speaker or Chairman only if satisfied that it is voluntary and genuine.

Act of 1974

34th Amendment

More land reform Acts in the Ninth Schedule

Added 20 more land reform and ceiling Acts of various states to the Ninth Schedule.

Act of 1974

35th Amendment

Sikkim as an associate state

Made Sikkim an "associate state" of India (Article 2A and the Tenth Schedule of that time), a status that lasted only until the 36th Amendment.

Act of 1975

36th Amendment

Sikkim becomes the 22nd state

Made Sikkim a full state of the Indian Union, inserting Article 371F and repealing the associate-state provisions of the 35th Amendment.

Act of 1975

37th Amendment

Arunachal Pradesh legislature

Provided a Legislative Assembly and Council of Ministers for the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh.

Act of 1975

38th Amendment

Emergency powers made non-justiciable

Passed during the Emergency. It made the President's satisfaction in declaring an Emergency, and the President's and Governors' satisfaction in issuing ordinances, non-justiciable, and allowed different proclamations of Emergency on different grounds.

Act of 1975

39th Amendment

Elections of the PM and Speaker beyond courts

Passed during the Emergency after the Allahabad High Court set aside Indira Gandhi's election. It placed disputes over the elections of the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and Speaker beyond the jurisdiction of the courts (Article 329A). In Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain (1975) the Supreme Court struck down the clause validating the Prime Minister's election as violating free and fair elections, a basic feature.

Act of 1976

40th Amendment

Territorial waters and the EEZ

Vested in the Union all lands, minerals and other things of value under the ocean within the territorial waters, continental shelf and exclusive economic zone of India, and added more Acts to the Ninth Schedule.

Act of 1976

41st Amendment

Public Service Commission members retire at 62

Raised the retirement age of members of State and Joint Public Service Commissions from 60 to 62.

Act of 1976

42nd Amendment

The "mini-Constitution"

The most sweeping amendment, passed during the Emergency on the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee. It added "Socialist", "Secular" and "Integrity" to the Preamble; added Fundamental Duties (Part IVA); made the President bound by ministerial advice; moved five subjects including education and forests to the Concurrent List; added new Directive Principles (39A, 43A, 48A); created tribunals (Part XIVA); extended the Lok Sabha's and assemblies' term to six years; and tried to bar judicial review of constitutional amendments (Article 368(4) and (5)), which Minerva Mills (1980) struck down.

Act of 1977

43rd Amendment

Undoing the 42nd (part one)

Passed by the Janata government. It restored the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and High Courts curtailed by the 42nd Amendment, including the Supreme Court's power to review the constitutionality of state laws, and removed Parliament's power to make laws against "anti-national activities".

Act of 1978

44th Amendment

Undoing the 42nd (part two)

Removed the right to property from the fundamental rights (deleting Articles 19(1)(f) and 31) and made it a constitutional right under Article 300A. It replaced "internal disturbance" with "armed rebellion" in Article 352, required the Cabinet's written advice for a National Emergency, made Articles 20 and 21 non-suspendable in an Emergency, restored the five-year term of the Lok Sabha and assemblies, and allowed the President to return ministerial advice once for reconsideration.

Act of 1980

45th Amendment

Reservation extended to 1990

Extended the reservation of seats for SCs and STs and Anglo-Indian nomination to 1990.

Act of 1982

46th Amendment

Sales tax loopholes closed

Widened the states' power to levy sales tax on "deemed sales", such as works contracts, hire-purchase and the supply of food in restaurants, overcoming several judicial decisions (Article 366(29A)).

Act of 1984

47th Amendment

More land reform Acts in the Ninth Schedule

Added 14 more land reform Acts of various states to the Ninth Schedule.

Act of 1984

48th Amendment

President's Rule in Punjab beyond one year

Allowed President's Rule in Punjab to be extended up to two years without the conditions otherwise required.

Act of 1984

49th Amendment

Tripura and the Sixth Schedule

Made the Sixth Schedule applicable to Tripura, enabling an autonomous district council for its tribal areas.

Act of 1984

50th Amendment

Fundamental rights of security forces

Extended Article 33 so that Parliament can restrict the fundamental rights of members of intelligence organisations and of telecommunication systems set up for the armed forces or intelligence.

Act of 1984

51st Amendment

ST seats in the North-East

Provided for the reservation of Lok Sabha seats for Scheduled Tribes in Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram, and of assembly seats for STs in Meghalaya and Nagaland.

Act of 1985

52nd Amendment

Anti-defection law

Added the Tenth Schedule to disqualify members of Parliament and state legislatures who defect. It exempted "splits" of one-third of a legislature party and "mergers" of two-thirds; the split exception was removed by the 91st Amendment (2003). Upheld in Kihoto Hollohan (1992), which made the Speaker's decision subject to judicial review.

Act of 1986

53rd Amendment

Mizoram statehood

Inserted Article 371G, with special provisions for Mizoram (protecting Mizo religious and social practices, customary law and land ownership), as Mizoram became the 23rd state.

Act of 1986

54th Amendment

Judges' salaries

Increased the salaries of the Chief Justice and judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, and allowed Parliament to change them by ordinary law in future.

Act of 1986

55th Amendment

Arunachal Pradesh statehood

Inserted Article 371H, giving the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh special responsibility for law and order, as Arunachal became the 24th state.

Act of 1987

56th Amendment

Goa statehood

Provided for Goa's statehood, with a Legislative Assembly of not fewer than 30 members, while Daman and Diu remained a Union Territory. Goa became the 25th state.

Act of 1987

57th Amendment

ST seats in North-East assemblies

Reserved seats for Scheduled Tribes in the legislative assemblies of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

Act of 1987

58th Amendment

Authoritative Hindi text

Inserted Article 394A, authorising the President to publish an authoritative text of the Constitution in Hindi.

Act of 1988

59th Amendment

Emergency in Punjab

Allowed extension of President's Rule in Punjab up to three years and permitted a National Emergency in Punjab on the ground of internal disturbance. It was later repealed by the 63rd Amendment.

Act of 1988

60th Amendment

Profession tax limit raised

Raised the ceiling on profession tax that states may levy from ₹250 to ₹2,500 a year.

Act of 1988

61st Amendment

Voting age lowered to 18

Reduced the voting age for elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies from 21 to 18 years (Article 326).

Act of 1989

62nd Amendment

Reservation extended to 2000

Extended the reservation of seats for SCs and STs and Anglo-Indian nomination to 2000.

Act of 1989

63rd Amendment

Punjab emergency provisions repealed

Repealed the special emergency provisions for Punjab introduced by the 59th Amendment.

Act of 1990

64th Amendment

President's Rule in Punjab

Allowed President's Rule in Punjab to be extended up to three years and six months.

Act of 1990

65th Amendment

National Commission for SCs and STs

Replaced the Special Officer for SCs and STs with a multi-member National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under Article 338.

Act of 1990

66th Amendment

More land reform Acts in the Ninth Schedule

Added 55 land reform Acts of various states to the Ninth Schedule.

Act of 1990

67th Amendment

President's Rule in Punjab to four years

Allowed President's Rule in Punjab to be extended up to four years.

Act of 1991

68th Amendment

President's Rule in Punjab to five years

Allowed President's Rule in Punjab to be extended up to five years.

Act of 1991

69th Amendment

National Capital Territory of Delhi

Inserted Articles 239AA and 239AB, giving Delhi special status as the National Capital Territory with a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers. Its scope was interpreted in the Delhi v. Union of India cases of 2018 and 2023.

Act of 1992

70th Amendment

Delhi and Puducherry in the presidential electoral college

Included the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Pondicherry in the electoral college for the President.

Act of 1992

71st Amendment

Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali

Added Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali to the Eighth Schedule, taking the total to 18 languages.

Act of 1992

72nd Amendment

ST seats in Tripura

Reserved seats for Scheduled Tribes in the Tripura Legislative Assembly, following the Tripura accord.

Act of 1992

73rd Amendment

Panchayati Raj

Gave constitutional status to Panchayati Raj institutions by adding Part IX (Articles 243–243O) and the Eleventh Schedule (29 subjects): a three-tier structure, direct elections, five-year terms, reservation for SCs, STs and women (at least one-third), and State Election and Finance Commissions. 24 April is observed as National Panchayati Raj Day.

Act of 1992

74th Amendment

Urban local bodies

Gave constitutional status to municipalities by adding Part IXA (Articles 243P–243ZG) and the Twelfth Schedule (18 subjects).

Act of 1993

75th Amendment

Rent control tribunals

Enabled the establishment of rent control tribunals, excluding the jurisdiction of all courts except the Supreme Court over their matters.

Act of 1994

76th Amendment

Tamil Nadu's 69% reservation

Placed the Tamil Nadu reservation law providing 69% reservation in the Ninth Schedule, to protect it after Indra Sawhney (1992) set a general 50% ceiling.

Act of 1995

77th Amendment

Reservation in promotion

Inserted Article 16(4A) to permit reservation in promotion for SCs and STs, overcoming Indra Sawhney (1992), which had held that reservation does not extend to promotions.

Act of 1995

78th Amendment

More land reform Acts in the Ninth Schedule

Added 27 more land reform Acts to the Ninth Schedule, taking the total to 284.

Act of 1999

79th Amendment

Reservation extended to 2010

Extended the reservation of seats for SCs and STs and Anglo-Indian nomination to 2010.

Act of 2000

80th Amendment

Sharing of central taxes

Adopted the "alternative scheme of devolution" recommended by the Tenth Finance Commission, under which states share in the total of central taxes rather than in specific taxes.

Act of 2000

81st Amendment

Backlog reserved vacancies

Inserted Article 16(4B), allowing unfilled reserved vacancies of a year to be carried forward as a separate class, not counted towards the 50% ceiling for that year.

Act of 2000

82nd Amendment

Relaxation of qualifying marks

Added a proviso to Article 335 permitting relaxation in qualifying marks and standards of evaluation for SCs and STs in promotions.

Act of 2000

83rd Amendment

No SC reservation in Arunachal panchayats

Provided that no reservation for Scheduled Castes in panchayats applies in Arunachal Pradesh, which has no SC population.

Act of 2001

84th Amendment

Delimitation frozen until after 2026

Extended the freeze on readjusting the number of Lok Sabha and assembly seats among states, based on the 1971 Census, until after the first census taken after 2026, while allowing readjustment of constituency boundaries within states on the basis of the 1991 Census.

Act of 2001

85th Amendment

Consequential seniority

Amended Article 16(4A) to give "consequential seniority" to SC and ST government servants promoted through reservation, with retrospective effect from 1995.

Act of 2002

86th Amendment

Right to education

Inserted Article 21A (free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14 as a fundamental right), changed Article 45 to cover early childhood care up to age six, and added Article 51A(k), the eleventh Fundamental Duty. Article 21A took effect with the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act on 1 April 2010.

Act of 2003

87th Amendment

Delimitation on the 2001 Census

Provided for readjustment of constituencies within states on the basis of the 2001 Census instead of the 1991 Census.

Act of 2003

88th Amendment

Service tax

Made express provision for the Union to levy service tax (Article 268A), with collection and appropriation by the Union and the states.

Act of 2003

89th Amendment

Separate commissions for SCs and STs

Split the National Commission for SCs and STs into a National Commission for Scheduled Castes (Article 338) and a National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (Article 338A).

Act of 2003

90th Amendment

Bodoland seats

Protected the representation of STs and non-STs in the Assam Assembly from the Bodoland Territorial Areas District.

Act of 2003

91st Amendment

Smaller ministries; no more "splits"

Limited the size of the Council of Ministers to 15% of the total members of the Lok Sabha (or of the state assembly, with a minimum of 12 in states), barred defectors from holding ministerial or remunerative political posts, and removed the "split" exception from the anti-defection law.

Act of 2003

92nd Amendment

Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali

Added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali to the Eighth Schedule, taking the total to 22 languages.

Act of 2005

93rd Amendment

Reservation in private educational institutions

Inserted Article 15(5), enabling reservation for socially and educationally backward classes and SCs and STs in admissions to educational institutions, including private unaided ones (but not minority institutions). Upheld in Ashoka Kumar Thakur (2008) and Pramati Educational Trust (2014).

Act of 2006

94th Amendment

Tribal welfare minister for Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh

Required Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha to have a minister in charge of tribal welfare, removing Bihar from the provision after Jharkhand was carved out of it.

Act of 2009

95th Amendment

Reservation extended to 2020

Extended the reservation of seats for SCs and STs and Anglo-Indian nomination to 2020.

Act of 2011

96th Amendment

"Oriya" becomes "Odia"

Substituted "Odia" for "Oriya" in the Eighth Schedule.

Act of 2011

97th Amendment

Co-operative societies

Added the right to form co-operative societies to Article 19(1)(c), a Directive Principle on promoting co-operatives (Article 43B), and Part IXB on co-operative societies. In Union of India v. Rajendra N. Shah (2021) the Supreme Court struck down Part IXB so far as it dealt with co-operatives within a single state, for want of ratification by the states.

Act of 2012

98th Amendment

Hyderabad-Karnataka region

Inserted Article 371J, empowering the Governor of Karnataka to take steps for the development of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, including a separate development board and reservation in education and employment.

Act of 2014

99th Amendment

National Judicial Appointments Commission

Created the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) to replace the collegium system of appointing judges. In Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (16 October 2015) a five-judge bench struck it down 4:1 as violating judicial independence, a basic feature; Justice J. Chelameswar dissented.

Act of 2015

100th Amendment

India–Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement

Gave effect to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement and its 2011 protocol between India and Bangladesh, providing for the exchange of enclaves (chitmahals): 111 Indian enclaves went to Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves came to India.

Act of 2016

101st Amendment

Goods and Services Tax

Introduced the Goods and Services Tax: Article 246A gives both Parliament and state legislatures concurrent power to levy GST, Article 269A covers inter-state supplies (IGST), and Article 279A creates the GST Council chaired by the Union Finance Minister. GST was rolled out on 1 July 2017.

Act of 2018

102nd Amendment

National Commission for Backward Classes

Gave constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (Article 338B) and inserted Article 342A on the notification of socially and educationally backward classes. In Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil (Maratha reservation, 2021) the Supreme Court read Article 342A as taking away the states' power to identify backward classes, which led to the 105th Amendment.

Act of 2019

103rd Amendment

EWS reservation

Inserted Articles 15(6) and 16(6), permitting up to 10% reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) among those not covered by existing reservations. Upheld 3:2 in Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India (7 November 2022).

Act of 2019

104th Amendment

Reservation extended to 2030; Anglo-Indian nomination ended

Extended the reservation of seats for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies to 2030, but did not extend the nomination of Anglo-Indians, which therefore ended.

Act of 2021

105th Amendment

States may identify backward classes again

Restored the power of state governments and Union Territories to prepare their own lists of socially and educationally backward classes (OBCs), overcoming the Maratha reservation judgment (2021).

Act of 2023

106th Amendment

Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam: women's reservation

Reserves one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies and the Delhi Legislative Assembly (Articles 330A, 332A and 239AA), including within the seats reserved for SCs and STs. It takes effect after the first census following the Act and the delimitation that follows, and lasts for 15 years. Passed in a special session in the new Parliament building in September 2023.

Introduced December 2024

The 129th Amendment Bill: One Nation, One Election

Simultaneous elections

The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 proposes simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies by inserting Article 82A and amending the provisions on the duration of the Houses. It follows the report of the high-level committee chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind (2024). The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2024 and referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

• Based on the Ram Nath Kovind Committee report (March 2024).
• Proposes Article 82A.
• Referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

Introduced 20 August 2025

The 130th Amendment Bill: Removing Ministers in Custody

Thirty days in detention

The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025 provides for the removal of the Prime Minister, a Chief Minister or any minister who is arrested and held in custody for thirty consecutive days on charges punishable with five years' imprisonment or more. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 20 August 2025 and referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee, which several opposition parties chose to boycott.

• Covers the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and ministers.
• Trigger: 30 consecutive days in custody for offences punishable with 5+ years.
• Referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

17 April 2026

The 131st Amendment Bill: Defeated in the Lok Sabha

A rare failure of a constitution amendment bill

The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 sought to bring women's reservation into effect by the 2029 elections, by carrying out delimitation on the basis of the 2011 Census and raising the strength of the Lok Sabha to about 850. It was introduced on 16 April 2026 and put to a vote on 17 April 2026. It received 298 votes in favour and 230 against, short of the two-thirds majority required under Article 368, and was defeated. The government then withdrew the accompanying Delimitation Bill.

• Votes: 298 for, 230 against.
• Fell short of the special majority needed under Article 368.
• The accompanying Delimitation Bill, 2026 was withdrawn.

Three Ways to Amend the Constitution

Simple majority, special majority, and ratification by states

Some provisions, such as the creation of new states (Articles 2–4), the quorum in Parliament or the Fifth and Sixth Schedules, can be changed by a simple majority of Parliament and are not amendments "under Article 368" at all. Most provisions need a special majority: a majority of the total membership of each House and two-thirds of members present and voting. Provisions affecting the federal structure, such as the election of the President, the Supreme Court and High Courts, the distribution of legislative powers, representation of states in Parliament and Article 368 itself, also need ratification by at least half the state legislatures.

• No joint sitting is possible on a Constitution Amendment Bill.
• The President must give assent (24th Amendment).
• State ratification examples: GST (101st), NJAC (99th).