The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 is a constitutional amendment that mandates the reservation of one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha, the State Legislative Assemblies, and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. It is popularly known as the Women's Reservation Act, 2023 or the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
The Act originated from a long-standing demand for greater female representation, with similar bills having been introduced and lapsed multiple times since 1996. The problem it solves is the persistent underrepresentation of women in higher legislative bodies, which was less than 15 percent in the Lok Sabha in 2023. The Act received the President's assent on September 28, 2023.
The mechanism works by inserting three new articles: Article 330A provides for the reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha, Article 332A does the same for State Legislative Assemblies, and an amendment to Article 239AA extends this to the Legislative Assembly of the NCT of Delhi. The reservation includes one-third of the seats already reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). The reservation is set to last for a period of 15 years from its commencement, with a provision for extension by Parliament. Crucially, the implementation of the reservation is contingent upon the completion of the next decennial census and the subsequent delimitation exercise. The reserved seats will also be rotated after each delimitation.
This amendment connects to the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments of 1992, which mandated a 33% reservation for women in Panchayats and Municipalities, respectively, through Articles 243D(2) and 243T(2). The 106th Amendment did not replace any existing provision but rather inserted new articles to extend the principle of reservation to the Union and State legislatures.