WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives yesterday voted overwhelmingly against a proposal to reinstate the military draft, in what some members said was an attempt to end rumors that the Bush administration has a “secret plan” to draft young people after the November elections.

The House voted 402-2 against the bill, which would have required all American men and women between the ages of 18 and 26 to perform two years of military service.

Rep. Charles Rangel, a Democrat of New York, helped defeat the legislation he had introduced in January 2003, and which Republican leaders put to a quick and unexpected vote yesterday.

Mr. Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War, said it was a “disgrace” that the proposed Universal National Service Act received only 40 minutes of debate.

The vote was a “political maneuver to kill rumors of the president’s intention to reinstate the draft after the November election,” he said.

Mr. Rangel said he voted against his own bill to protest the fact that lawmakers did not hold any committee hearings or expert testimony to study whether the military is overstretched.

Republicans said a vote by the House was needed to calm the growing fears of young people and their parents that the Bush administration was concealing a “secret plan” to reinstate the draft after the November elections.

“We’re voting ‘no’ to show there is no secret plan,” said Rep. Jack Kingston, a Republican of Georgia.

Although President Bush has said he would not impose a draft, rumors to the contrary have been fanned by critics of the war including the former Democratic presidential hopeful, Howard Dean.

“It just seems to me that as many times the administration says they are against the draft, all we hear on the Internet and around the country is that after the election they are going to have the draft,” said Mr. Rangel, during the floor debate.

The House majority leader, Rep. Thomas DeLay, a Republican of Texas, said the vote was intended “to expose a fraud” and to put to rest the draft rumor that he called a “baseless and malevolent concoction of the Democratic Party.”

But several Democrats said they did not believe the assurance.

“Every time the president denies it, the phone calls pour into our offices – when it is going to happen?… The fact is that the kids have got it right, and now their parents are listening and saying, ‘Oh my god, there might actually be a draft,'” said Rep. Jim McDermott, a Democrat of Illinois.

“There is a secret plan to have a draft,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat of Texas, who said American troops are “frustrated, tired, and overwhelmed.”

President Bush said on Monday during a campaign stop in Clive, Iowa: “We will not have a draft so long as I’m the president of the United States.”

He added that “in order to win the war on terror, we need specialized forces. This is specialty work. If you draft, you don’t get the specialized force you need. We don’t need a draft.”

Senator Kerry has also said he would not bring back the draft as president.

Several Democrats and Republicans said the size of the American military should be increased so that soldiers could serve shorter and fewer tours of duty.

“We do not have enough troops in the field to prevail. We have enough to win the war, but not enough to win the peace,” said Rep. John Dingell, a Democrat of Michigan.

The draft was suspended in 1973 as the military withdrew from Vietnam and switched to an all-volunteer force.

Two Democrats voted in favor of measure, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, and Rep. Peter Stark of California.

“We have to have the personnel to do this job. …This shouldn’t be borne only by people who are volunteering because they couldn’t find a job,” said Mr. Murtha.

Mr. Rangel said the voted convinced him that Republicans “will not vote for a draft before an election.”