Women's reservation in legislatures: the 106th Amendment and why it has not yet taken effect

The Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, reserves seats for women in directly elected legislatures. It provides that as nearly as may be one-third of the seats filled by direct election in the Lok Sabha and in state legislative assemblies shall be reserved for women. It also covers the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Within the seats already reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, one-third are to be reserved for women from those communities.

The amendment inserts new Articles 330A and 332A and amends Article 239AA for Delhi. It does not reserve seats in the Rajya Sabha or in state legislative councils, because those bodies are not filled by direct election in the same way. The reservation is to rotate among constituencies after each delimitation, so that no single constituency is permanently reserved. It is initially to operate for fifteen years from its commencement, and Parliament may extend it by law.

The most important feature of the law is its delayed commencement mechanism. The reservation itself does not operate immediately. It is to take effect only after the delimitation exercise that follows the first census conducted after the amendment's commencement. That design links women's reservation to two separate exercises: counting the population and redrawing constituency boundaries. Until both steps are completed, the composition of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies does not change under this amendment, even though the amendment has been enacted.

This delay has produced both support and criticism. Supporters argue that reservation must be built into freshly delimited constituencies to be workable and fair across states. Critics argue that tying a rights measure to a census and delimitation timetable makes its arrival uncertain and postpones representation that Parliament has already approved. The debate therefore turns on a practical question of sequencing: whether a reform should wait for the cleanest administrative moment or begin at the next available election.