Article 368 of the Indian Constitution establishes a carefully calibrated amendment procedure, balancing parliamentary sovereignty with constitutional rigidity to protect foundational governance structures from hasty or partisan alterations.
Most provisions of the Constitution are amended by a 'special majority' under Article 368, which requires both conditions to be satisfied simultaneously: a majority of the total membership of each House, and a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting. This dual threshold ensures that amendments command broad legislative consensus rather than a simple numerical advantage.
The total-membership criterion prevents amendments from passing when attendance is thin, while the two-thirds present-and-voting criterion demands supermajority agreement among active participants. Together, they guard against transient parliamentary majorities rewriting constitutional provisions to serve short-term political interests.
Certain provisions — such as those affecting federalism, the election of the President, and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court — require, beyond the special majority, ratification by not less than half of the State Legislatures. This federal safeguard reflects the quasi-federal character of the Indian Constitution.
The Supreme Court, in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, held that even a constitutionally valid amendment cannot abrogate the basic structure of the Constitution. This doctrine imposes a substantive limit on Parliament's amending power, supplementing the procedural rigour of Article 368.
Article 368 thus creates a layered amendment architecture — procedural rigour through special majority, federal consent for sensitive provisions, and judicial review through the basic structure doctrine — ensuring constitutional stability without permanent rigidity.
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