Winter Session likely in December as Centre prepares to move women’s quota-Delimitation Bill

New Delhi: The Winter session of Parliament is likely to begin in the first week of December, though the Union government has also considered the possibility of extending or reconvening the unprorogued Monsoon Session instead of a regular separate session, according to reliable sources.

The government is expected to push for the constitutional amendment Bill linking women’s reservation to Delimitation.

The proposed legislation aims to expand the strength of the Lok Sabha to create more seats to accommodate the 33 per cent reservation for women.

The Monsoon session was adjourned sine die on August 13, 2026, leaving it unprorogued for more than 90 days.

The arrangement left open the option of an extended or special sitting to take up the proposed constitutional amendment at short notice.

While an extended sitting of the existing session requires a minimum notice of two days, convening a fresh session requires a minimum 14-day notice.

Passing a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority of members present and voting which works out 361 votes out of a total current strength of 540 sitting MPs.

Since the ruling NDA has around 320 members, it will require the backing of some opposition parties for the passage of the Bill with the required two-thirds majority.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the Delimitation Bill, 2026, will not harm the Southern states but will, in fact, benefit them.

He added that under the 50 per cent increase model, the current 543 seats in the Lok Sabha will rise to 816, leading to an increase in the number of seats for all Southern states.

The Home Minister noted that the existing 129 seats of the Southern states in the Lok Sabha will increase to 195, and their share in the total seats of the House will remain almost the same at around 24 per cent. This is expected to help garner votes for passing the Bill.

Senior leaders also anticipate a stormy session which could lead to disruptions of the proceedings in Parliament as the Opposition has upped the ante against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

The Congress, Left parties and the Mamata-Trinamool Congress are aggressively seeking the CEC’s ouster in the wake of the controversy over the manner in which the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has been carried out.