Government Clears Draft Bills to Implement 33% Women's Reservation from 2029 Lok Sabha Polls

Key Points:

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday, April 8th approved the draft bill for amending the women's reservation law. This decision would facilitate the way for Parliament to take up the legislation for the implementation of 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies from the 2029 elections.

Sources privy to the development say that a cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its assent to the draft bill for the amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, more commonly known as the Women’s Reservation Act. This proposed amendment aims to modify the existing framework of the Adhiniyam.

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Additionally, according to reports by The Times of India, three bills are set to be introduced in the special three-day Parliament session starting April 16: the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, the Delimitation Bill, and a separate legislation to extend reservation for women in Union Territories that have legislative assemblies. 

What are the proposed changes under the draft bills?

The Constitution amendment bill will make necessary changes to the 2023 Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, while the delimitation bill will lead to the formation of a Delimitation Commission to redraw the boundaries of Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies.

The proposed changes will increase the number of Lok Sabha seats from the current 543 to 816, with 273 seats reserved for women. The reservation will be applied on a vertical basis, ensuring that seats allocated for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) also include one-third reservation for women from these categories. 

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This decision significantly accelerates the rollout of women’s reservation. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, passed in 2023 as the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, had originally planned to implement the quota only after the delimitation exercise based on the 2027 Census, which would have delayed its enforcement until around 2034. 

Under the new proposal, the redrawing of Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies will be done on the basis of the 2011 Census rather than waiting for the 2027 Census. A similar proportional exercise will be carried out for state assemblies. In the Lok Sabha, SC seats are expected to rise from 84 to 136 and ST seats from 47 to 70, broadly in line with the 2011 Census figures. One-third of these reserved seats will also be earmarked for women. 

The new laws will come into force after March 31, 2029, and will be implemented from the 2029 Lok Sabha polls as well as simultaneous assembly elections in states like Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Andhra Pradesh.

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