The procedure under Article 368

Detail

1. What Article 368 says

• Amendment of the Constitution means formally changing the text of the Constitution. Part XX has only one Article on this, Article 368. Its title is "Power of Parliament to amend the Constitution and procedure therefor" [2].
• Art. 368(1) was rewritten by the 24th Amendment Act, 1971. It says Parliament "may in exercise of its constituent power amend by way of addition, variation or repeal any provision of this Constitution" [4].
• Constituent power is the power to make or change the Constitution itself. It is different from legislative power, which is the power to make ordinary laws under the Constitution.

• Addition means inserting a new provision, such as a new Article. Variation means changing an existing provision. Repeal means removing a provision.

• An amendment is not "law" under Art. 13. Art. 13 strikes down any "law" that takes away Fundamental Rights. The 24th Amendment (1971) added two clauses to keep amendments outside Art. 13:

• Art. 13(4) says nothing in Art. 13 applies to an amendment made under Art. 368.
• Art. 368(3) says nothing in Art. 13 applies to an amendment made under this Article [4].
• So the 24th Amendment ended the Golaknath (1967) view, which had treated an amendment as "law" under Art. 13. Courts can still review amendments under the basic structure test, which says Parliament cannot destroy the Constitution's core features (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973).

2. Steps in order

Step	What happens	Majority / time limit
1. Introduction	The bill is introduced in either House of Parliament, never in a state legislature. A minister or a private member may introduce it.	No prior sanction of the President is needed.
2. Passing in each House	Each House passes the bill separately.	Special majority: a majority of the House's total membership, plus at least two-thirds of members present and voting [2][3].
3. No deadlock route	If the two Houses disagree, the bill fails.	No joint sitting, because Art. 108 does not apply to amendment bills.
4. State ratification (only for some provisions)	At least half of the state legislatures pass resolutions approving the bill.	Simple majority in each state legislature. No time limit. This must happen before the bill goes to the President [2].
5. President's assent	The President signs the bill and it becomes an Act.	The President must assent and cannot withhold assent or return the bill (24th Amendment, 1971) [4].

• What "special majority" means in practice. In the Lok Sabha, the special majority is needed for the motion to consider the bill, for each effective clause (each clause that actually changes the Constitution) and for the final passing motion [3].
• No referendum and no outside body. The people do not vote on amendments directly, and no special convention or constituent assembly is called. Only elected representatives in Parliament, and sometimes in the states, decide. NCERT therefore says parliamentary sovereignty underlies the procedure. Parliamentary sovereignty here means elected Parliament has the final word on changing the Constitution, within the basic structure limit.
• Examples of the steps (2023–2026):
• 106th Amendment Act, 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam). It reserved one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and the Delhi assembly. It added Arts. 330A, 332A and 334A and amended Art. 239AA. The reservation is set to last 15 years [8].
• The bill passed the Lok Sabha 454–2 and the Rajya Sabha unanimously in 2023 [9].
• No state ratification was needed, because seat reservation is not on the Art. 368(2) proviso list. The same was true of the earlier bill extending SC/ST reservation by ten years [7].
• A minister can introduce an amendment bill. In 2025, Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025 in the Lok Sabha [12].

• A bill fails if it does not get the special majority. The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 was about delimitation, the redrawing of constituencies. It would have raised the Lok Sabha's maximum size from 550 to 850. It was introduced on 16 April 2026 and negated (defeated) in the Lok Sabha on 17 April 2026 [11].

• Bill numbers are not Act numbers. A bill is numbered when it is introduced. An Act is numbered only when it is passed. So the 2025 and 2026 bills carry numbers 130 and 131, while the Act passed in 2023 is the 106th [8][11][12]. The latest official text of the Constitution is the one "as on February, 2026" [10].

3. The three modes of amendment

(i) Simple majority, outside Art. 368 (ordinary law)

• Amendment by simple majority means Parliament changes the Constitution's working by an ordinary law, passed by a majority of members present and voting. These laws are expressly "not deemed" to be amendments for the purposes of Art. 368 (for example, Arts. 4(2), 169(3) and 239A(2)).
• Arts. 2–4. Parliament may admit or form new states and change their names or boundaries "by law".
• Art. 11. Parliament may regulate citizenship by law (Citizenship Act, 1955).
• Art. 169. Parliament may create or abolish Legislative Councils in states, after the state assembly passes a resolution. Art. 169 is the provision on the upper houses of state legislatures [2].
• Art. 239A. Parliament may create legislatures for Union territories.
• Fifth Schedule (para 7) covers Scheduled Areas. Sixth Schedule (para 21) covers tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
• Other matters in this mode:
• Second Schedule emoluments (pay and allowances)
• Quorum, MPs' salaries and privileges, rules of procedure and the use of English in Parliament
• The number of Supreme Court judges
• Delimitation and elections

(ii) Special majority alone

• This covers most of the Constitution, including Part III (Fundamental Rights), Part IV (Directive Principles) and the Election Commission (Art. 324).

(iii) Special majority plus ratification by half the states

• Amendment by special majority and state ratification is required by the proviso to Art. 368(2) for matters that touch the federal balance [2]:
• Arts. 54–55: election of the President
• Art. 73 (Union) and Art. 162 (states): extent of executive power
• Art. 241: High Courts for Union territories
• Art. 279A: the GST Council, added by the 101st Amendment, 2016
• Chapter IV of Part V (Supreme Court) and Chapter V of Part VI (High Courts)
• Chapter I of Part XI: legislative relations between the Union and the states
• Any List of the Seventh Schedule: the Union, State and Concurrent Lists
• Representation of states in Parliament
• Art. 368 itself

NCERT check-your-progress chart, answered

Matter	Mode
Citizenship (Art. 11)	Ordinary law (simple majority)
Freedom of religion (Arts. 25–28)	Special majority
A change in the Union List	Special majority + ratification by half the states
State boundaries (Art. 3)	Ordinary law (simple majority)
Election Commission (Art. 324)	Special majority only

4. Why ratification matters: two judgments

Skipping ratification makes the provision void.

• 52nd Amendment Act, 1985 (Tenth Schedule). The Tenth Schedule is the anti-defection law. Para 7 of the Schedule barred all courts from hearing disqualification cases.
• In Kihoto Hollohan (1992), the Supreme Court held that para 7 cut down the powers of the Supreme Court and High Courts, which are matters on the ratification list. Para 7 had not been ratified by the states, so it was struck down.

• The rest of the Tenth Schedule survived as severable, meaning it could stand on its own. The Speaker's decision on disqualification is therefore open to judicial review, the courts' power to check whether an act is valid under the Constitution.

• 97th Amendment Act, 2011 (co-operatives). It made three changes:

• Art. 19(1)(c): the right to form co-operative societies was added to the right to form associations and unions.
• Art. 43B: a Directive Principle to promote co-operatives.

• Part IXB (Arts. 243ZH–243ZT): rules on co-operatives' boards, elections and audit.

• The Rajendra N. Shah judgment. Part IXB touched "co-operative societies", which is an entry in the State List, but it was never ratified by the states. The Gujarat High Court struck it down. On appeal, Union of India v. Rajendra N. Shah (Civil Appeal Nos. 9108–9109 of 2014, decided 20 July 2021) held that Part IXB is operative only for multi-state co-operative societies, in the states and in Union territories [5][6].

• The result: states keep full power to make laws on co-operatives working within one state [5].
• What followed: the Union passed the Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which works within this narrower Part IXB [5].

5. Critique of the procedure

• States cannot start an amendment. Only Parliament can introduce one. In the USA, by contrast, states can call for a convention.
• Half the states are enough, and there is no time limit. The USA needs three-fourths of the states to ratify. NCERT's cartoon calls the Indian design "favouring the centre against the States!".
• Only some provisions need ratification. Large federal changes can pass without the states. Examples are seat reservation [7] and delimitation proposals [11].
• On the other side: the design is flexible but not too easy. A special majority in both Houses is hard to get, as the defeat of the 131st Amendment Bill shows [11]. The basic structure doctrine adds a judicial check.

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 368(1) got the words "constituent power" and "addition, variation or repeal" from the 24th Amendment Act, 1971 [4].
• Arts. 13(4) and 368(3) say an amendment is not "law" under Art. 13 [4].
• Special majority = a majority of total membership + two-thirds of members present and voting, in each House separately. There is no joint sitting for amendment bills [3].
• President's assent is compulsory. The President cannot withhold assent or return an amendment bill. Do not confuse this with the suspensive veto over ordinary bills (24th Amendment).
• Trap: amendment bills cannot start in a state legislature, but private members can introduce them, and no prior presidential sanction is needed.
• Ratification list (proviso to Art. 368(2)): Arts. 54, 55, 73, 162, 241 and 279A (GST Council); the Supreme Court and High Courts; Ch. I of Part XI; the Seventh Schedule; states' representation in Parliament; and Art. 368 itself [2].
• Not on the ratification list: Fundamental Rights, the Election Commission (Art. 324) and women's reservation (106th Amendment, 2023) [7][8].
• Simple majority (outside Art. 368): Arts. 2–4, 11, 169, 239A; the Fifth Schedule (para 7) and Sixth Schedule (para 21); the number of SC judges.
• Kihoto Hollohan (1992) → para 7 of the Tenth Schedule was void for lack of ratification. Rajendra N. Shah (2021) → Part IXB applies only to multi-state co-operatives [5].
• 106th Amendment Act, 2023 → Arts. 330A, 332A, 334A. The bill passed the Lok Sabha 454–2 [8][9]. The 131st Amendment Bill, 2026 (delimitation) was negated in the Lok Sabha on 17 April 2026 [11].

Mains Points

• Flexible and rigid at once. India uses three modes, from a simple majority to ratification by half the states. This lets India pass routine changes quickly (106 amendments by 2023) while guarding the federal core. Kihoto Hollohan (1992) and Rajendra N. Shah (2021) show that the ratification step has real force [5][8].
• A Centre-heavy design. States cannot initiate amendments, half the states are enough to ratify, and there is no time limit. Delimitation and seat changes need no ratification at all. This matters as delimitation debates grow, for example over the 131st Amendment Bill, 2026 [11]. A possible reform is to add delimitation and seat redistribution to the Art. 368(2) proviso.
• Parliamentary sovereignty versus constitutionalism. There is no referendum or convention, so elected representatives decide alone. Since 1973, the basic structure doctrine (Parliament can amend any part but cannot destroy core features such as federalism or judicial review) has balanced this. Art. 368(3) keeps amendments outside Art. 13, but it does not remove judicial review.
• Co-operative federalism lesson. The 97th Amendment (2011) shows that a well-meant Union reform can fail if it bypasses the states. Consultation and ratification make reforms durable [5][6].