01 Read
What happened
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Act, 2023, reserves one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies, including within SC and ST quotas. However, the reservation will not operate until after a delimitation exercise is conducted following the first census after the Act's commencement. Home Minister Amit Shah has noted that SC and ST seat counts will increase with delimitation, indirectly affecting how the women's quota is distributed across constituencies.
02 Understand
Why it matters
The women's reservation law — formally the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Act, 2023, also called the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam — inserts Articles 330A and 332A into the Constitution. Article 330A reserves not less than one-third of the total seats in the Lok Sabha for women, with a sub-reservation for SC and ST women within their existing quotas. Article 332A does the same for State Legislative Assemblies. A corresponding provision covers the NCT of Delhi.
The critical constitutional condition — and the examiner's favourite pressure point — is the activation clause: the reservation will not come into force until after (a) the first census conducted after the Act's commencement is published, and (b) a delimitation exercise is completed on the basis of that census. This creates a two-step prerequisite. The 2021 Census has been delayed; until it is conducted and its results used for delimitation, the reservation remains dormant.
The reservation is also rotational: reserved constituencies will be allotted by rotation after each delimitation, preventing permanent lock-in of any seat. The sunset clause mirrors existing SC/ST reservation — women's reservation will cease after fifteen years from commencement, unless extended by Parliament.
This Act amends Part XV (Elections) of the Constitution and required a special majority under Article 368 plus ratification by at least half the State Legislatures, which it received. Notably, the Act does not provide sub-reservation for OBC women, a point of ongoing political debate.
For CLAT PG, the doctrine of conditional constitutional rights and the distinction between enactment and operationalisation is the core testable principle.
The critical constitutional condition — and the examiner's favourite pressure point — is the activation clause: the reservation will not come into force until after (a) the first census conducted after the Act's commencement is published, and (b) a delimitation exercise is completed on the basis of that census. This creates a two-step prerequisite. The 2021 Census has been delayed; until it is conducted and its results used for delimitation, the reservation remains dormant.
The reservation is also rotational: reserved constituencies will be allotted by rotation after each delimitation, preventing permanent lock-in of any seat. The sunset clause mirrors existing SC/ST reservation — women's reservation will cease after fifteen years from commencement, unless extended by Parliament.
This Act amends Part XV (Elections) of the Constitution and required a special majority under Article 368 plus ratification by at least half the State Legislatures, which it received. Notably, the Act does not provide sub-reservation for OBC women, a point of ongoing political debate.
For CLAT PG, the doctrine of conditional constitutional rights and the distinction between enactment and operationalisation is the core testable principle.
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