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Delimitation and Women’s Reservation in Legislatures

Kumari Sonali

Delimitation and Women’s Reservation in Legislatures:

The Union government has introduced three major Bills: the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Delimitation Bill, 2026, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, to enable fresh delimitation based on the latest available Census, expand the Lok Sabha, and operationalise 33% women’s reservation in legislatures.

The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026:

  • Expanding the Lok Sabha: It amends Article 81 to increase the maximum strength of the Lok Sabha from 550 to 850 members (815 from States and 35 from Union Territories).
  • Article 81 dictates the principle of equal representation; the ratio between a state’s allocated seats and its population must be roughly the same across all states (with exceptions only for very small states under 6 million).
  • Removing the Delimitation Freeze: The Bill also amends the marginal heading of Article 82 from “Readjustment after each Census” to
  • “Readjustment of constituencies”, and removes the requirement of readjusting the number of Lok Sabha seats in states after every Census.
  • Similarly, it makes amendments to the Articles on state Assemblies (Article 170) and reservation for SCs and STs, changing the basis from the 2001 Census to “such Census” that Parliament decides by law to use.
  • As of now, Article 81 (2) and (3) freeze the Lok Sabha seats as per the 1971 Census and the Assembly seats as per the 2001 Census, “until the relevant figures for the first census taken after the year 2026 have been published”.
  • By decoupling delimitation from the post-2026 Census, the government can now proceed delimitation using data from the 2011 Census.
  • Expediting Women’s Quota: It amends Article 334A to allow the immediate implementation of the 33% women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and
  • State Assemblies (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Constitution 106th Amendment Act, 2023)) right after this new delimitation process is completed, targeting the 2029 elections.
  • Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 requires a special majority in Parliament and ratification by at least half of the States, as it amends the Constitution.