Govt tables bills to tweak women quota law, set up delimitation panel
Govt tables bills to tweak women quota law, set up delimitation panel
M.U.H
16/04/202626
The government on Thursday introduced three key bills in the Lok Sabha to move ahead with women’s reservation and the next delimitation exercise.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Delimitation Bill, 2026 were tabled as part of this effort. During the special sitting of Parliament from April 16 to 18, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also introduced the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The Bill seeks to extend the women’s reservation framework to Union Territories, including Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir.
After the bills were introduced, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla approved a 15-18 hour discussion on all three. Voting is set to take place at 4 pm on Friday.
Earlier this week, the Centre had shared the draft of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 with MPs. The proposal includes changes to the women’s reservation law and plans to increase the total strength of the Lok Sabha to 850, covering both States and Union Territories.
According to the draft Constitution amendment bill, the number of Lok Sabha seats will be raised from the current 543 to a maximum of 850. This is aimed at “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 general elections, after a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
The proposal also includes increasing the number of seats in state and Union Territory assemblies to make space for 33 per cent reservation for women.
Earlier this week, the Centre had shared the draft of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 with MPs. The proposal includes changes to the women’s reservation law and plans to increase the total strength of the Lok Sabha to 850, covering both States and Union Territories.
According to the draft Constitution amendment bill, the number of Lok Sabha seats will be raised from the current 543 to a maximum of 850. This is aimed at “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 general elections, after a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
The proposal also includes increasing the number of seats in state and Union Territory assemblies to make space for 33 per cent reservation for women.
Responding to the criticism, Shah said, “Akhilesh Yadav asked why the census is not being conducted. I want to inform the entire country that the census process has already begun. The government has taken a decision to conduct a caste census, and the enumeration is being carried out along with caste data. If it were up to the Samajwadi Party, they would even assign castes to households.”
He added, “Dharmendra Yadav spoke about giving reservations to Muslim women. This is unconstitutional. Reservation based on religion is unconstitutional.”
