‘Why delay vandan?’: Women’s reservation comes full circle as government ‘pivot’ fails in Lok Sabha

A view of the lok sabha during a special session of parliament in New Delhi on April 18, 2026 | Photo credit: ANI/Sansad TV

The issue of 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures has closed in less than three years since Parliament passed the Constitution (One Hundred Sixth Amendment) Bill, 2023 – popularly known as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam – in September 2023.

Clause (1) of Article 334A of the 106th Amendment mandated a three-step process to be carried out before women’s reservation in the legislature became a reality – the 2023 Act had to come into force, followed by a fresh census and delimitation exercise.

Women’s reservation won’t take long, says Law Minister Meghwal

During the 2023 debate, the opposition parties argued for the immediate operationalization of the amendment without waiting for census and delineation. The government did not back down then.

Virtual turnaround

In 2026, with the crucial parliamentary elections just days away, the government introduced the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026. The proposed law was a virtual turnaround on paper. As a result, the Center went with the opposition’s 2023 view to immediately implement women’s reservation based on the 2011 census.

The 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill sought to amend Article 334A and justified its reversal by saying that a new census and subsequent delimitation would “take considerable time and thereby delay the effective and committed participation of women in our democratic polity”. She insisted on women’s reservation based on “population figures from the last published census”, which remains from 2011.

However, the proposed law did not receive a special majority in the House of Representatives on April 17, the second day of the extraordinary session of the Parliament.

Timing questioned

Interestingly, the government decided to operationalize the 106th Amendment Act on April 16 even as the 131st Constitutional Amendment Act was being debated. Questions have been raised as to why the government decided to bring the 2023 constitutional amendment into force on April 16 after so long of silence and inaction.

The answer may be that the government did not expect the 2026 amendment to succeed and thus had to back down after its strong policy message for women’s reservation to bring the Constitution Amendment Bill 2023 into effect.

I repeat that the initiation or commissioning of the 2023 Act is the first step, which will be followed by a fresh census and delimitation to implement the women’s reservation. The ongoing 2027 census, if clause (1) of the original Article 334A is interpreted narrowly and literally, would not be counted because it precedes the commencement of the 2023 Act on 16 April. The current census began on April 1.

Demand recovery

Meanwhile, the opposition has since rekindled its demand to remove the part of Article 334A(1) that requires a fresh census and delimitation to bring in women’s reservation.

In effect, the government lost an opportunity to the Supreme Court in 2023 to remove the “offending part” of Article 334A(1).

At that time, a petition filed by Dr. Jayou Thakur urged the apex court to declare the clause “void ab-initio” and a violation of Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution. The petition argued that the unanimously passed 106th Constitution Amendment Act of 2023 must not wait indefinitely for census and delimitation but should be implemented without delay. The court rejected the claim as unfounded.

Later in 2025, the same petitioner approached the apex court again, pointing out the delay in the implementation of women’s reservation, asking rather pointedly, “Why delay vandan?”

Published – 18 Apr 2026 20:40 IST