The Battle Over Women’s Reservation, Centre Rejects Congress’s Call for All-Party Meet Amid Disagreement on Implementation Timeline
As the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam Awaits Implementation, the Government and Opposition Clash Over Delimitation, Census Data, and the Urgency of Political Reform
The government has rejected the Congress’s proposal to hold an all-party meeting on the women’s reservation Act after the ongoing Assembly election campaign for four States and a Union Territory ends on April 29, arguing that any delay would jeopardise the legislation’s implementation before the 2029 Lok Sabha election. The Centre has proposed that the delimitation exercise essential for operationalising the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam be carried out on the basis of the 2011 Census rather than waiting for the ongoing enumeration.
The Women’s Reservation Act, when implemented, will reserve 33 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women. It is one of the most significant pieces of legislation passed in recent Indian history, but its implementation remains stalled, caught in a tangle of political disagreement over timelines, data, and procedure.
The Legislative Background
The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, popularly known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, was passed by Parliament with overwhelming support. It mandates that one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies be reserved for women. The Act was hailed as a historic step towards gender equality in Indian politics, where women’s representation has long lagged behind their share of the population.
But the Act contained a crucial provision: its implementation would be tied to the delimitation exercise that follows the first Census after the Act’s passage. This means that the reservation cannot take effect until new constituency boundaries are drawn based on updated population data.
This linkage was seen as a compromise, designed to address concerns from some quarters that reservation would distort electoral representation. But it has also become a source of delay and controversy.
The Government’s Position
The Centre has proposed that the delimitation exercise essential for operationalising the Act be carried out on the basis of the 2011 Census rather than waiting for the ongoing enumeration. It has also proposed delinking population as the criterion for determining a State’s representation in the Lok Sabha, and instead suggested a 50 per cent increase in the number of seats across the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
On Thursday, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju wrote to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge insisting that timely implementation of the Act is a shared responsibility of all political parties. Waiting for the Assembly polls to conclude, he said, would push back the timeline, as the process involves multiple, time-consuming steps.
The government’s urgency is understandable. The 2029 Lok Sabha election is less than three years away. If the delimitation exercise is to be completed in time for women to contest from reserved seats in that election, work must begin soon. The process of delimitation—drawing new constituency boundaries—is complex and time-consuming. It requires Census data, consultations, and legislative approval. Any delay could push implementation beyond 2029.
The Congress’s Position
The Congress, however, remains unmoved by Mr. Rijiju’s plea. In his response, Mr. Kharge wrote, “I simply fail to understand why the government is in such great hurry to further amend a Constitutional Amendment Act 30 months after it was initially passed.” He reiterated that holding the meeting after the election campaign would not hinder the implementation process.
The Congress’s scepticism is rooted in its distrust of the government’s motives. The party suspects that the government is using the women’s reservation issue as a political tool, and that its proposed changes to the delimitation process are designed to benefit the ruling party.
There is also a substantive disagreement. The Congress believes that the delimitation exercise should be based on the latest Census data, not the 2011 numbers. It argues that using outdated data would perpetuate inequities and fail to reflect demographic changes over the past 15 years. It also questions the proposal to increase the number of seats by 50 per cent, suggesting that this is a separate issue that should be debated on its own merits, not linked to the women’s reservation.
The Delimitation Question
At the heart of the dispute is the delimitation exercise. Delimitation is the process of redrawing constituency boundaries to reflect changes in population. It is supposed to happen after every Census, to ensure that each constituency has roughly the same number of voters.
But delimitation has been frozen since 1976, when the government decided to freeze constituency boundaries until the first Census after 2026. This was done to encourage population control measures, by ensuring that states that successfully reduced population growth would not lose parliamentary seats.
The freeze has created a situation where constituency boundaries are based on 1971 population data. The result is a significant mismatch between population and representation. Some states, particularly in the south, have a much lower population per seat than states in the north, because they successfully reduced population growth.
The women’s reservation Act was passed with the understanding that delimitation would be unfrozen after the 2026 Census. The government is now proposing to use the 2011 Census instead, effectively unfreezing delimitation early.
The Congress opposes this. It argues that using 2011 data would penalise states that have successfully controlled population growth, because they would not get the additional seats they are due based on current population.
The Seat Increase Proposal
The government’s proposal to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats by 50 per cent—from 543 to around 815—is also controversial. Proponents argue that this is necessary to ensure that constituencies are not too large and that representation keeps pace with population growth. Opponents worry that it could be used to gerrymander constituencies in favour of the ruling party.
The Congress wants these issues discussed separately from the women’s reservation. It argues that linking them together creates unnecessary complexity and delays the implementation of a measure that should be implemented as soon as possible.
The Political Stakes
The women’s reservation Act is widely popular. Women’s groups have been demanding it for decades. Its passage was hailed as a breakthrough. But its implementation has been stalled by political disagreements.
The government wants to take credit for implementing the Act before the 2029 elections. It sees the Congress’s opposition as obstructionism. The Congress sees the government’s urgency as a cover for a political agenda that goes beyond women’s reservation.
The stakes are high. If the Act is implemented before 2029, it will transform Indian politics. One-third of Lok Sabha seats will be reserved for women, meaning that hundreds of new women MPs will enter Parliament. This could change the nature of political debate, the priorities of government, and the composition of the ruling party.
If implementation is delayed, the Act will remain a promise unfulfilled. Women’s groups who fought for decades will be disappointed. And the government will be open to the charge that it passed the Act for political credit, without the will to implement it.
The Way Forward
The government and the Congress are at an impasse. The government wants to move quickly; the Congress wants to slow down. The government wants to use 2011 Census data; the Congress wants to wait for the 2026 data. The government wants to increase the number of seats; the Congress wants to delink that from women’s reservation.
There is room for compromise. The government could agree to hold the all-party meeting after the elections, as the Congress has requested. The Congress could agree to discuss the substantive issues, rather than insisting on procedural delays.
The women’s reservation Act is too important to be held hostage to political squabbling. If the government and the opposition cannot agree, the Act will remain unimplemented, and women’s representation in Parliament will continue to lag.
The Act was passed with overwhelming support. That support must now be translated into action. The women of India have waited long enough.
Q&A: Unpacking the Women’s Reservation Implementation Dispute
Q1: What is the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, and what does it provide?
A: The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, which reserves 33 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women. It was passed by Parliament with overwhelming support and is considered a historic step towards gender equality in Indian politics. However, its implementation is tied to the delimitation exercise following the first Census after the Act’s passage.
Q2: What is the government’s position on implementing the Act?
A: The government wants to implement the Act before the 2029 Lok Sabha election. It has proposed carrying out the delimitation exercise using the 2011 Census rather than waiting for the ongoing enumeration. It has also proposed delinking population as the criterion for determining a State’s representation in the Lok Sabha and increasing the number of seats by 50 per cent. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju argues that any delay would jeopardise timely implementation.
Q3: What is the Congress’s position on implementation?
A: The Congress has proposed an all-party meeting after the ongoing Assembly election campaigns end on April 29. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge questioned why the government is in such a hurry to further amend a Constitutional Amendment Act passed 30 months ago. The Congress believes delimitation should be based on the latest Census data, not 2011 numbers, and that the seat increase proposal should be discussed separately from women’s reservation.
Q4: Why is the delimitation exercise controversial?
A: Delimitation has been frozen since 1976, with constituency boundaries based on 1971 population data. Using 2011 Census data would effectively unfreeze delimitation early. The Congress argues this would penalise states that successfully controlled population growth (particularly southern states) by denying them additional seats based on current population. The government’s proposal to increase total Lok Sabha seats by 50 per cent is also controversial, with opposition parties worried about potential gerrymandering.
Q5: What are the political stakes in this dispute?
A: The stakes are high because the Act’s implementation would transform Indian politics, bringing hundreds of new women MPs into Parliament. The government wants to take credit for implementation before 2029; the Congress sees the government’s urgency as a cover for a political agenda that goes beyond women’s reservation. Women’s groups who fought for decades are watching closely, and failure to implement could undermine faith in the legislative process. The dispute is essentially about timing, data sources, and whether to link seat increase to the reservation implementation.
