About the Author:
Asiya Rahman Puthuppurackal, a sophomore student from Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram, currently works as Senior Editor at LJRF VOICE and is a member of the LJRF Centre for Constitutional Literacy.
“The Dignity of a nation lies with the dignity it gives its women.”
These are the words of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who was the Chairperson of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly. It has been 75 years since the inception of the Constitution, 78 years of National Independence. Yet, the world’s largest democracy had to wait another 27 years for a Women’s Reservation Bill to be presented in the Parliament. Moreover, 30 years down the lane, the question of implementation of the newly passed Women’s Reservation Act, 2023 remains a mirage despite its passage.
The Women’s Reservation Act, 2023 is a testament to the struggle of Indian Women for establishing equality and equal representation in India. As a constitutional parliamentary democracy, this is a subject which has been warranting discussion long before it has actually been discussed.
The Delimitation Bill, 2026 linked with Women’s Reservation, failed to be passed in the Parliament on 17th April, 2026, as it did not secure the two-third majority, which is necessary for a Constitutional Amendment to pass. While the Union Government expressed its disappointment over a bill favouring women not seeing success, the Opposition strongly condemned and stood affirmative with the non-passage, alleging that the bill was a facade, a cloak to politically reengineer all electorates in India before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
It is therefore imperative to understand the benefit of a new reservation law that draws affirmative action for women and what obstructs its implementation in India despite the release of its enforcement notification.
What is the Women’s Reservation Bill and Act?
The Women’s Reservation Act, the 106th Constitutional Amendment Act, was passed on September 20, 2023, and came into force on April 16, 2026 after the Ministry of Law and Justice released its official notification. The day after, on April 17, 2026, the Delimitation Bill, 2026 linked with the Women’s Reservation, was rejected in the Parliament.
The Women’s Reservation Bill introduced and passed in 2023, stipulates a 33% reservation of seats in both Union and State Legislative Assemblies for women, provided that the reservations will be implemented after the next census, i.e. the census of 2026 which will be completed by March 1st, 2027, followed by a delimitation exercise meaning redrawing of the boundaries of constituencies. The period of reservation will continue for 15 years.
This captured the headlines recently as the nexus between Women’s Reservation and the Delimitation Exercise remained ambiguous for the citizens. The Delimitation Bill, 2026 which was in discussion in the Parliament on April 17 intended to bring an Amendment to the aforementioned Act by modifying the current Census Condition to using the data of the last census in 2011 and increase the number of seats to the Lok Sabha from 543 to 850 intending an
increase in seats for the States, to implement the Women’s Reservation during the upcoming 2029 elections in the Upper House of the Parliament, according to Articles 81 and 82 of the Constitution of India.
History tells a Different Story – Preferential Treatment v. Meritocracy
Flipping through the pages, history reveals that the Constituent Assembly of 389 members who drafted our Constitution consisted of 15 women, some of whom actually opposed the idea of reservation for women such as Sarojini Naidu and Renuka Ray. The core idea was that asking for preferential treatment would defeat the objective of establishing political equality in general, without any conferred privileges. However, trusting that the system would gradually accommodate representation, women had let go of the idea of reservations. By then, electorates of outgoing women began to be replaced with men.
This continued until 1996 when Sushma Swaraj raised her voice in the Parliament that only 6.5% of members in the Lok Sabha were women. The 81st Constitutional Amendment Bill was thus introduced to give 33% Reservation to women, but lapsed. The same happened six times after, between 1998 and 2014 after successive governments stepped down.
The Fundamental Question Remains : Why link the Women’s Reservation with Delimitation? Why cannot it be implemented Stand Alone?
Firstly, it is essential to clarify that the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023 still remains in force and has not been repealed. However, the rationale behind the Women’s Reservation’s connection with the Delimitation is still an unanswered question. The underlying logical questions, some of which were raised by the Opposition in the Parliament, were that if the Union Government was keen on implementing the Reservation Act effectively, why didn’t the Bill focus on amending the Act and modify it to implement it in the existing framework of 543 seats in the Parliament. The year is 2026 and relying on 2011 Census Data means relying on outdated information to carry out the fundamental democratic process of the country which decides its future.
The plausible answer is that if it is implemented in the existing framework, then 180 Male Members of the Parliament lose their seats to the Lok Sabha, which essentially pin points to a lack of collective political will towards gender neutrality. Moreover, the concept of affirmative action which stems from reasonable classification under Article 14 intends the upliftment of one category to be at par with the other categories, which means even if an absolutely perfect equilibrium cannot be achieved, a reasonable upliftment upgrades their status. However, providing 33% reservation while increasing the number of seats from 543 to 850 (est. figure) defeats this objective of affirmative action as 543 seats become unreserved in this framework, meaning the representation in these seats may still be based on gender norms, giving an opportunity for gender-based prerogative.
While an Anti-Women Narrative unfolds due to the failure of the bill to be passed, the practical implications seem to be beyond reasonability if this was actually implemented. The current status is not that pleasant either as India will have to wait until 2034 to see the first Women’s Reservation implemented as the census and the following Delimitation is said to be a time-consuming process which has tangible socio-political repercussions.
Additionally, while the Delimitation Commission is a Constitutional Body constituted under Articles 81, 82 and 170 of the Constitution, the Bill does not lay down the procedure of delimitation, which leaves behind confusion.
Far from an Achievement, Progress yet to be achieved
While this is definitely an achievement for India as a Parliamentary Democracy, being the largest democracy in the country with a written constitution that is widely accommodating and acting as a custodian, this is the tip of a huge iceberg of actions, which could have been implemented earlier. It must be noted that the 73rd and 74th Amendments to our Constitution guaranteed 33% reservation for women in local body elections in 1992. It is pertinent to note that the stance of the government to implement the 2023 Act swiftly on the 2011 census was quite surprising as the very same Government took two years to file a response when the very first PIL seeking to implement this form of reservation was filed, for which it was reprimanded by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
The substantial three-years delay after its passage as an Act in 2023, as according to the notification of the Central Government, in a constitutional democracy is something which warrants deep discourse.
To sum it up, while the Women’s Reservation Act technically remains in force, to see it unfold into an actual reality and see a woman sitting in the Parliament, India will have to wait longer and see if it’s worth the wait as well.
