The 106th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2023, known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, has come into force, mandating one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies, and the Delhi Legislative Assembly. Passed by Parliament in September 2023, the amendment inserts Articles 330A and 332A into the Constitution. Crucially, the reservation will activate only after the next delimitation exercise following a Census, making immediate implementation contingent on future administrative processes.

The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is the 106th Constitutional Amendment and represents the most significant structural change to Parliament's composition since reservation for SCs and STs was introduced. It inserts three key provisions: Article 330A (reservation for women in the Lok Sabha), Article 332A (reservation in state legislative assemblies), and a provision for the Delhi Legislative Assembly under Article 239AA.

The reservation quantum is one-third of total seats, including one-third of seats already reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes — meaning women from SC/ST communities will have dedicated sub-reservation within the broader women's quota.

The critical legal nuance is the deferred commencement clause: the reservation will not take effect immediately. It activates only after (a) a fresh Census is conducted, and (b) a delimitation exercise is carried out on the basis of that Census. This two-stage conditionality means the reservation's actual implementation could be many years away, making the Act's coming into force largely symbolic in the immediate term.

The reservation is also designed to rotate — reserved constituencies will be allotted by rotation after each delimitation, preventing permanent entrenchment of reserved seats in specific geographic areas.

For CLAT PG aspirants, the amendment raises questions about affirmative action jurisprudence, constitutional validity of political reservations, and the legislative competence of Parliament to restructure electoral representation. For UPSC, the precise constitutional articles, amendment number, and conditionality clauses are high-priority recall facts.