Transgender bill passed by voice vote in Lok Sabha amid walkout by Opposition MPs

Amidst an Opposition-led walkout, the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (March 24, 2026) passed by voice vote the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, which proposes to remove transgender people’s right to self-determination of gender, and introduces a clause for examination by a medical board to determine their gender.

The MPs who walked out of the House were from parties such as the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, DMK, Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party, and the CPI(M). Congress whip Manickam Tagore said they walked out as they were “not satisfied with the reply” of the Minister on the Bill.

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Transgender rights groups, civil society leaders, and several prominent members of the community condemned the passing of the Bill as an “injustice”. 

Union Minister for Social Justice Virendra Kumar said the Bill seeks to stop adults and children from being “forced or compelled” to become or present as transgenders through hormone therapy or other interventions, and further strengthens punishments for crimes against transgender people. He called the proposed amendments a step further in the Modi-led government’s efforts to empower the transgender community.

The MPs from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) insisted that the Bill was for the “betterment” of the community. They claimed that retaining the principle of self-determination of gender would lead to people “falsely” claiming reservation and other such benefits, wherever and if they are introduced. “We want transgender people to live with equality; they should also get the same rights which the rest of the people get. I want to assure the House that transgenders will continue to get legal recognition. And their rights will be fully protected. This Act is an expression of our collective conscience,” the Minister said.

Apart from the Union Minister, 15 MPs from across political parties participated in the discussion, out of which 11 MPs (all from Opposition parties) objected to the Bill provisions. Stating that the right to self-determination of gender was recognised by the Supreme Court in its 2014 NALSA judgment, they called the Bill an “attack on Constitutional morality” and the “dignity” of transgender people across the country.

MPs such as Supriya Sule of the NCP asked why the government was bringing the Bill with such urgency and without consultation, “when Rome is burning, the world is at war, and concerns such as India’s energy security should be given time for discussion in the House”. Opposition MPs said the Bill should be withdrawn or at least sent to a parliamentary panel for examination.

The NDA MPs also praised provisions criminalising the “compelling” of children or adults to present as transgender, as a specific protection for the community, even as Opposition MPs voiced concerns that this may criminalise people and organisations working to protect transgender people who might be facing violence or discrimination from their families and within their societies.

The Bill was introduced by the Minister in the Lok Sabha on March 13, almost immediately inviting objections from across transgender communities all over the country. They who have been protesting, holding public meetings, and writing letters to public representatives calling for its rejection

Regressive, says Rahul

On Tuesday morning, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, also posted a statement opposing the Bill after meeting a delegation of activists and civil society leaders, calling it a “regressive Bill” that “attacks the Constitutional rights and identity of transgender people”. The delegation also met with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Congress leaders, who supported their demands for withdrawing the Bill.

On Tuesday evening, supporting the Bill, BJP MP from Balasore, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, posited that the principle of self-determination of gender could become problematic because if the government were to decide to bring reservation for the transgender community, then “anyone could snatch away rights with the help of self-identification”, adding that this Bill “protects transgender people from infiltrators”.

He further claimed in his address that the Bill represented India’s adoption of a “scientific approach” to determine if a person was transgender based on the recommendation of a medical board, further arguing that it is intended to “give prestige” to the community and to “stop all kinds of cheating”. This came even as Telugu Desam Party MP Byreddy Shabari spoke about purported complaints that people were falsely adopting a “transgender identity” for begging at traffic lights. MPs from Janata Dal United and the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) also spoke in support of the Bill.

In reply to the discussion on the Bill, the Social Justice Minister reiterated that the law to protect the rights of transgender persons was “always meant to protect only those suffering from extreme exclusion and discrimination due to biological reasons that exist not because of their fault or their wishes”. Mr. Kumar hailed the Union government led by PM Narendra Modi for “tirelessly” working towards “progressive” policies for the mainstreaming of transgender people, taking “Bharat ahead of some Western nations as well”.

The Social Justice Minister hailed the Modi-led government’s efforts to work for the empowerment of transgender people. He specifically spoke on how the government had ensured that the canteen at the National Institute of Social Defence in Dwarka was run by transgender people.

Published – March 24, 2026 07:13 pm IST