Why the Women’s Reservation Bill is in the Headlines?

Even after more than 7 decades of crowning the Indian Independence, the hurdles in implementing the required Women’s Reservation Bill, which was then passed in 2023, and named the Constitution 128 Amendment Act. But with the name Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, affixing the 33% of reservation of women’s seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. This bill was put on hold for nearly 27 years, and then the year 2023 witnessed the relief of passing it through the chokes of obstructions.

Now, in the year 2026, this bill is again hitting the headlines. Because it was affirmed that after the exercise of delimitation (an act of redrawing the boundaries of the state and UTs as per the census report, laid in Art. 32 of the Indian Constitution), this newly introduced bill will come on-ground. Unfortunately, the flipping picture comes in, as right now the Lok Sabha seats are still following the census of 1971 because of the disproportion in the population of the North-Indian and South-Indian states. Then, as per the 42nd amendment, these seats were frozen, which means it was agreed upon to adhere to the same census by the year 2001. Notwithstanding, this freeze has been extended till 2026 with the 84th Amendment, thus disabling the re-division of seats as per the upgraded population figures.

From April 2026, the 2027 census has already commenced. But it will be conducted in two phases and so needs the time for the further cycle of delimitation that is to be conducted in the year 2028. Then, in the year 2029, the Women’s Reservation Bill will finally get a push on the floor of the Lok Sabha.

Since now there is a likelihood of southern states losing Lok Sabha seats because of lower population over there as compared to the Northern states, the debate has been forked into two apparent streams- Centre leaning towards the implementation of the 2011 census to pace up the implementation of the Women Reservation Bill, 2023, and the opposition against this step.

The spat did not end here. There is a link-up of the Delimitation Bill, which sought a spike in the number of seats in the Lok Sabha from the current 543 to 850. The center is underpinning this Delimitation bill hurriedly, thus interrogating the rash push. While the last census simply portrays the higher population of the Northern states, resulting in more seats in the Lok Sabha. This pinched the opposition, which then turned against passing the Delimitation bill as the reason to implement the Women’s Reservation Bill.

As of 17th April 2026, this proposed 131st Amendment Bill, 2026, has failed to pass through the Special Majority. This has been the first time in 12 years. The said bill, which sought to enable the early implementation of 33% reservation for women in legislatures, as it proposed allowing this without waiting for the completion of Census and delimitation exercises, had implications for constitutional procedure, federal balance, and representational equity.