WOMEN’S RESERVATION

NEWS: The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 mandates one-third reservation for women, but implementation is delayed due to delimitation requirements

106th Amendment Act, 2023

• Reserves 33% seats for women in the Lok Sabha & State Legislative Assemblies.
• Within the reserved quotaàone-third of the seats reserved for SCs/STs are also reserved for women of those categories.
• Reserved seats for women à rotated periodically across constituencies.
• Reservation will come into effect only after delimitation based on the first Census conducted after 2026.
• The reservation is initially valid for 15 years, but Parliament can extend it further.
• Inserts provisions under Articles 330A, 332A, and 334A to operationalise women’s reservation.

Causes of Delayed Implementation

• Implementationàlinked to the next Census (post-2026), which is yet to be conducted.
• Redrawing of constituencies (delimitation) is necessary and takes several years after the Census data is available.
• The Constitution freezes seat allocation among states until after the Census.
• The complexities of balancing representation and managing political concerns further delay implementation.

Proposed Solution: Proportional Representation

• Retain existing constituencies while adding extra seats reserved for women without creating new constituencies.
• Allocate additional seats to parties in proportion to their vote share, ensuring fair representation.
• Political parties nominate women candidates from pre-declared lists, enabling immediate implementation without delimitation.