What was the 106th Amendment on women reservation

The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam or Women's Reservation Act, reserves one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies, and the Delhi Legislative Assembly, including seats already allocated for SCs and STs.

 

Key Provisions

 

It inserts Articles 330A (Lok Sabha seats), 332A (state assembly seats), and amends Article 239AA (Delhi assembly) to enforce this quota, with seats rotating after each delimitation exercise. The reservation takes effect only after the first census post-enactment (expected after 2026) and a subsequent delimitation, lasting initially for 15 years but extendable by Parliament. Article 334A outlines the implementation timeline, review process, and sunset clause.

 

Link to 131st Amendment Bill

 

The 106th Amendment's women's quota hinges on updated delimitation, which was frozen since 1976 based on 1971 census data; the failed 131st Bill (2026) aimed to lift this freeze via a new census (potentially 2026) and expand seats to ~850, enabling the 33% reservation from 106th to activate promptly. Without delimitation reform like the 131st, the women's quota remains stalled despite the amendment's passage in 2023.