The BJP-led central government is reportedly preparing to roll out the Women’s Reservation Act, with plans to base its implementation on the 2011 Census, sources told India Today TV.
Under the proposed plan, the total number of Lok Sabha seats could increase from 543 to 816, with 273 seats earmarked for women. The original legislation had specified that the reservation would be implemented only after a fresh census and delimitation exercise.
However, sources said the government is keen to fast-track the process and plans to introduce a Bill in the ongoing Budget session to amend the law and boost women’s representation in the Lok Sabha.
Early outreach to opposition parties indicates an effort to build broad consensus for the smooth passage of the constitutional amendment. Officials expect the Bill to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha first-possibly next week-after receiving Cabinet approval.
The Women’s Reservation Act, passed in 2023, mandates 33 percent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, but its implementation has been pending due to the delimitation process.
If the government moves ahead with the reservation before delimitation, it will require another constitutional amendment.
Parliament would need to amend Section 5 of the Act, which currently ties the implementation of women’s reservation to a delimitation exercise after the first census conducted following the law’s enactment. As a constitutional amendment, Article 368(2) requires approval by a majority of the total membership in both Houses, along with at least a two-thirds majority of members present and voting.
The BJP, which has 240 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 103 in the Rajya Sabha, does not have sufficient numbers in either House to pass the amendment on its own and will need opposition support.
Last week, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge urged Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the “modalities and roadmap for the implementation” of the Women’s Reservation Act.