With the NDA's parliamentary support steadily growing, the arithmetic required to amend the Constitution has come back into focus.
The defeat of the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill in April underscored a key parliamentary reality: unlike ordinary legislation, most constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority in both Houses—a threshold the NDA is yet to cross on its own.
Article 368 requires a majority of the total membership of each House as well as a two-thirds majority of members present and voting in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha for most constitutional amendments. If some members abstain or are absent, reducing the number of members present and voting, the two-thirds threshold also falls.
That threshold remains well above the NDA's current strength in Parliament.
The Lok Sabha Equation
In the 543-member Lok Sabha, the effective strength currently stands at 540 with three vacancies. If all sitting members vote, the two-thirds mark works out to 360 votes.
Since April, the NDA’s numbers have gone up from 292 to 318 with additional support from 20 MPs from the Trinamool Congress and the six MPs from Shiv Sena (UBT). This increase is subject to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's decision on petitions relating to rebel MPs from the Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), who have declared their intention to merge with other parties and support the BJP-led NDA.
If the Speaker recognises the proposed mergers, the NDA's strength would rise to 318 MPs, leaving it 42 votes short of the 360 votes required if all members are present and voting.
The INDIA bloc currently has the support of 185 MPs in the Lok Sabha, while 37 MPs are not aligned with either bloc.
The Rajya Sabha Numbers
The challenge is smaller—but still significant—in the Rajya Sabha.
The Upper House currently has 242 members with three vacancies. Based on the present effective strength, the two-thirds requirement is 161 votes.
The NDA and its supporting parties currently account for 150 members, leaving the alliance 11 votes short.
The INDIA bloc has 65 members, leaving 27 members not aligned to any side.
The DMK Factor
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) exited the INDIA bloc in June after the Congress extended support to Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) to form the government in Tamil Nadu.
The DMK has 22 MPs in Lok Sabha. The DMK has opposed the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill, mainly because of the Delimitation Bill, 2026, in April.
Now outside both the NDA and the INDIA bloc, the DMK could become a key player if the Bill is reintroduced.
If the DMK supports the NDA, the NDA’s tally would touch 340, reducing the gap but still leaving it 20 votes short.
If they don’t take part in voting, the two-thirds majority will be around 345, leaving NDA 27 votes short of the two-thirds majority.
In Rajya Sabha, if the NDA secures the support of the DMK's eight Rajya Sabha MPs, its strength would rise to 158, narrowing the gap to three votes. Even then, it would remain below the constitutional threshold. If they skip voting, the NDA will still need nine more votes.
Why the Numbers Matter
The NDA already enjoys a comfortable majority to pass ordinary legislation. Constitutional amendments, however, demand a much broader political consensus.
Several landmark constitutional amendments—including those introducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and strengthening local self-government through the 73rd and 74th Amendments—were passed only after securing support across party lines.
The current numbers indicate that while the NDA is comfortably positioned to govern, it would still need backing from non-aligned regional parties to get the two-thirds majority required for most amendments.
Constitutional Amendment Bills That Did Not Become Law
Not every constitutional amendment introduced in Parliament becomes law. Since 1952, Parliament has enacted more than 100 constitutional amendments, but several proposals have failed to secure the required majority or lapsed before passage.
The list includes three Bills that were defeated in Rajya Sabha: the Abolition of Privy Purses (24th Amendment, 1970); and Constitutional Status for Panchayati Raj Institutions (64th Amendment) and Constitutional Status for Urban Local Bodies (65th Amendment) in 1989.
In Lok Sabha, two Bills have failed. Before the 131st Amendment Bill, the Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill, 2011, which sought to give constitutional status to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas, had also failed to become law.
These instances underline a recurring reality of parliamentary politics: constitutional change depends not only on electoral victories but also on building broad legislative consensus.
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