The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill reserves one-third of Lok Sabha and state assembly seats for women, including within SC and ST quotas. Passed by Parliament in September 2023, the reservation cannot take effect until after the next delimitation exercise is completed. Home Minister Amit Shah noted that delimitation will also increase the total number of reserved seats for SCs and STs, meaning women from these communities will gain seats on an expanded base.

The 106th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2023 (passed as the Constitution 128th Amendment Bill, renumbered on enactment) inserts Articles 330A and 332A into the Constitution. Article 330A reserves not less than one-third of all Lok Sabha seats for women, including seats already reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Article 332A does the same for state legislative assemblies. A new Article 334A mandates rotation of reserved constituencies after each delimitation exercise.

The critical constitutional mechanism is the delimitation trigger: the reservation activates only after the first census conducted after the Act's commencement is published, and only after a subsequent delimitation exercise is completed. Since the 2021 census was delayed and delimitation follows census publication, implementation is realistically deferred to post-2026 or later.

This amendment requires ratification by at least half the state legislatures under Article 368(2) because it affects representation in state assemblies — a key procedural fact examiners test.

The reservation is not permanent; Article 334A provides it shall cease 15 years after commencement, mirroring the sunset clause for SC/ST reservations under Article 334. There is no reservation for OBC women within this amendment — a point of political controversy and a likely distractor in MCQs.

The amendment also does not apply to Rajya Sabha or state legislative councils, limiting it strictly to directly elected houses.