Bare ActOfficial Text of Article 4
4. Laws made under articles 2 and 3 to provide for the amendment of the First and the Fourth Schedules and supplemental, incidental and consequential matters.—
(1) Any law referred to in article 2 or article 3 shall contain such provisions for the amendment of the First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule as may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of the law and may also contain such supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions (including provisions as to representation in Parliament and in the Legislature or Legislatures of the State or States affected by such law) as Parliament may deem necessary.
(2) No such law as aforesaid shall be deemed to be an amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of article 368.
When a new State is born or an old one changes shape, two lists in the Constitution must change too: the First Schedule (the list of States and Union Territories with their areas) and the Fourth Schedule (how many Rajya Sabha seats each State gets).
Clause (1) says the same law that creates or changes a State must also update these two Schedules. It may also handle all the follow-up work: seats in Parliament and the Assembly, High Courts, the division of staff, money and property, and so on.
Clause (2) is the shortcut: even though such a law changes the text of the Constitution, it is not treated as a constitutional amendment under Article 368. So it does not need a special majority or approval from half the States. A simple majority in Parliament is enough.
🏠 Everyday Analogy
When a family splits one big house into two flats, they don't rewrite the whole family property deed from scratch. They simply update the electricity meter list and the society's parking register as part of the same partition paperwork. Article 4 is that "update the registers" rule for India's map.
🇮🇳 Real Indian Example
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, which created Telangana, added Telangana to the First Schedule and split Andhra Pradesh's 18 Rajya Sabha seats in the Fourth Schedule into 11 for Andhra Pradesh and 7 for Telangana. It was passed as an ordinary law, not as a numbered constitutional amendment.
Quick RevisionKey Points to Remember
- Every Article 2 or 3 law must amend the First and Fourth Schedules as needed.
- It may include supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions, such as seats in Parliament and State Legislatures.
- Such a law is not an amendment under Article 368, so a simple majority is enough.
- That is why the creation of States like Telangana did not get an amendment number.
UPSC · State PSC · JudiciaryExam Corner
- First Schedule = names and territories of States and UTs. Fourth Schedule = allocation of Rajya Sabha seats.
- Three ways the Constitution changes: simple majority outside Article 368 (like Article 4), special majority under Article 368, and special majority plus ratification by half the States.
- Mangal Singh v. Union of India (1967): because an Article 4 law is not an amendment, it could fix a new State's Assembly below the minimum of 60 members that Article 170 normally requires.
- Contrast: ceding land to another country needs a real Article 368 amendment (9th Amendment 1960, 100th Amendment 2015).
Practice MCQTest Yourself: Article 4
A law under Article 2 or 3 that changes the First and Fourth Schedules is:
Doubts ClearedFrequently Asked Questions
Why is creating a new State not counted as a constitutional amendment?
Because Article 4(2) says so directly. A law made under Article 2 or 3 is not treated as an amendment for the purposes of Article 368, even though it changes the First and Fourth Schedules.
What do the First and Fourth Schedules contain?
The First Schedule lists the States and Union Territories and their territories. The Fourth Schedule lists how many Rajya Sabha seats each State and UT gets.
What majority does Parliament need for a law under Article 4?
A simple majority of members present and voting in each House, like any ordinary law.