Govt. lists five Bills for Monsoon Session, no mention of delimitation legislation
The government released a list of five Bills for introduction, consideration, and passage during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which begins July 20.
The list includes the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, which proposes making the intentional insult of, or disruption during, the singing of the National Song "Vande Mataram" a punishable offence.
No Bill relating to the long-pending delimitation exercise — the redrawing of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituency boundaries — was included in the listed legislative business.
The absence is notable because the freeze on delimitation, extended by the 84th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2001, is due to lift after the first census conducted after 2026.
Article 82 — Readjustment of Seats After Each Census
Article 82 requires Parliament to enact, after every census, a Delimitation Act providing for the readjustment of Lok Sabha seat allocation among states and the division of each state into territorial constituencies. Article 170(3) contains a parallel provision for State Legislative Assemblies.
Key Details
- The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 first froze the total number of seats allotted to each state (based on the 1971 Census) to avoid penalising states that had controlled population growth.
- The 84th Amendment Act, 2001 extended this freeze until the first census taken after 2026, while permitting intra-state boundary readjustment based on 2001 Census data without altering total state-wise seat numbers.
- Delimitation itself, once undertaken, is carried out by an independent Delimitation Commission (last constituted by the Delimitation Act, 2002; a body with a Supreme Court judge as chairperson, plus the Chief Election Commissioner and State Election Commissioners as ex-officio members).
Since the delimitation freeze expires only after the first post-2026 census, and no census has yet been conducted or a Delimitation Act enacted for it, no delimitation Bill was expected in the government's Monsoon Session list — but the omission keeps political and academic attention on when the process will formally begin.
106th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2023 (Women's Reservation / Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam) — Delimitation Linkage
The 106th Amendment inserted Articles 330A and 332A to reserve one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies, including within SC/ST reserved seats. Its commencement notification was issued on April 16, 2026, but the reservation itself remains inoperative until seats are reserved through the delimitation exercise that follows the first census after 2026.
Key Details
- The Act carries a 15-year sunset clause from commencement.
- Reserved seats are to rotate after each subsequent delimitation under Article 334A.
- Passed by Lok Sabha (454-2) and Rajya Sabha (214-0) in September 2023; assented to by the President on September 28, 2023.
Delimitation legislation is thus the trigger event for operationalising women's reservation — its absence from the Monsoon Session list means the 106th Amendment's substantive effect also remains pending.
Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971
This Act penalises insults to India's national symbols — the National Flag, the Constitution, and the National Anthem. The proposed Amendment Bill extends equivalent protection to the National Song, "Vande Mataram," which was adopted as the National Song (distinct from the National Anthem, "Jana Gana Mana") during the freedom movement and referenced in the Preamble's constitutional history but has no separate constitutional textual basis of its own.
Key Details
- Under the existing Act, insulting the National Anthem or disrupting its singing is punishable by imprisonment of up to three years, a fine, or both.
- The proposed amendment seeks to extend an identical penalty structure to intentional insult of, or disruption during, the singing of Vande Mataram.
- Vande Mataram was composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (in Anandamath, 1882) and given the status of National Song by the Constituent Assembly in 1950, alongside "Jana Gana Mana" as National Anthem.
This is the sole Bill from the listed five explicitly named in reporting; its passage would be the first legislative extension of the 1971 Act's protections since enactment.
- Five Bills listed for the Monsoon Session, beginning July 20, 2026.
- Delimitation freeze: imposed 1976 (42nd Amendment), extended to first census after 2026 (84th Amendment, 2001).
- 106th Amendment (Women's Reservation): notified into force April 16, 2026; reservation itself pending delimitation.
- Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971: existing penalty for anthem-related offences is up to 3 years' imprisonment and/or fine.
- Delimitation Commission composition: retired/sitting Supreme Court judge (chair) + Chief Election Commissioner + State Election Commissioners (ex-officio).