Centre notifies Women’s Reservation law; implementation only after delimitation

The Central government on Thursday notified the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act of 2023, the long-pending law providing 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.

A notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice in the official gazette said that the provisions of the law shall come into force from April 16.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, the Central Government hereby appoints the 16th day of April, 2026 as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force," the gazette notification said.

The act is being notified now despite receiving presidential assent in 2023.

However, though the law has been notified, the implementation of the reservation will not be immediate. The law makes it clear that the quota will take effect only after a fresh delimitation exercise is carried out based on the first census conducted after the law comes into force.

Until such delimitation is undertaken, the existing composition of the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies will remain unchanged.

The amendment—popularly known as the Women’s Reservation law—provides for one-third reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha, State Assemblies and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

The law also creates a sub-quota for women belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), providing that one-third of seats reserved for SCs and STs will be earmarked for women from these communities.

Since the law's implementation is subject to delimitation, the Union government has framed the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 proposing a significant expansion of the Lok Sabha’s strength to 850 from the current 550.

The government has also introduced  Delimitation Bill, 2026 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, aimed at resetting India’s electoral framework and enabling fresh delimitation based on updated population data.

These bills are currently being debated upon in the Lok Sabha.

The opposition parties, while in support of the women's quota, has asked for its implementation independent of delimitation.

Many politicians from the south have taken strong objection to delimitation alleging that it will reduce the voice of the southern States in the parliament since the proportional representation of south, which has lesser population, will decline in parliament.

They have alleged that the women's reservation law has been tied up with delimitation as a ploy to push the passage of the latter law, so that the strength of the Lok Sabha from Hindi speaking States in the north India go up thereby giving an unfair advantage to the ruling BJP which has a stronger political foothold in the north.

[Read Notification]