What is Special Majority ?

An amendment of Constitution may be initiated only by the introduction of a Bill for the purpose in either House of Parliament, and when the Bill is passed in each House by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting, it shall be presented to the President who shall give his assent to the Bill and thereupon the Constitution shall stand amended in accordance with the terms of the Bill

Special majority is a majority of the ‘total membership’ of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting.

Technically, special majority means at least 50% present of the total members of the houses be present and the amendment has to be accepted and voted in favour of by two third of the total number of members present and voting  

Illustration

If 545 members are present in Lok Sabha, then at least 363 (2/3 of 545) members should vote in favour of the amendments 

If 300 members are present in Lok Sabha, then it should be accepted and voted by atleast 273 (more than 50% of 545) .In this case 2/3 of 300 members is not considered  because 2/3 of 300is 200 which is less than 50% of total MPs of loksabha i.e 273

Barring the specific articles and schedules of the Constitution which can be amended by simple majority, a Bill seeking to amend any other of the part of Constitution has to be passed in either House of Parliament by a special majority

‘Total membership’ stipulated in the Constitution has been defined to mean the total number of members comprising the House irrespective of the fact whether there are vacancies or absentees on any account.

‘Abstentions’ in any voting are not taken into consideration in declaring the result on any question.

A member who votes “abstention” either through the electronic vote recorder or on a voting slip or any other manner, does so only to indicate his presence in the House and his intention to abstain from voting; he does not record his vote within the meaning of the words “present and voting”.

The expression “present and voting” refers to those who vote for “yes” or for “noes”