Delimitation, women’s reservation, political dynamics

In September 2023, Parliament passed the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, oregon the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, which commits to reserving one-third of seats successful the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas for women, including successful constituencies already earmarked for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, this perchance transformative measurement falls abbreviated of immediacy: its implementation is deferred until aft the adjacent Census and the consequent delimitation exercise.

During parliamentary debates, the Congress party, on with respective different Opposition parties, demanded its contiguous operationalisation, ideally for the 2024 wide election. Women’s rights groups criticised the authorities for tying the quota to delimitation aft the caller Census, arguing that it creates unnecessary delays. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) authorities rejected this, maintaining that specified a large change, without updated Census information and delimitation, would undermine some fairness and feasibility.