The 106th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2023 is a landmark constitutional amendment that provides for one-third (33%) reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Popularly known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, it received the President's assent on September 28, 2023.
The Act addresses the long-standing problem of women's underrepresentation in higher legislative bodies, a demand that had been part of the democratic discourse since the first attempt to introduce a similar bill in 1996. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments of 1992 had already mandated 33% reservation for women in Panchayats and Municipalities, but the new Act extends this principle to the Union and State legislatures.
The mechanism works by inserting three new articles into the Constitution: Article 330A reserves one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha for women, including a sub-quota for women from Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). Article 332A does the same for State Legislative Assemblies, and an amendment to Article 239AA extends the reservation to the Delhi Legislative Assembly. Crucially, Article 334A stipulates that the reservation will only come into effect after the first census conducted following the Act's commencement and the subsequent delimitation exercise. The reservation is set to last for 15 years from its date of implementation, with a provision for extension by Parliament. The seats reserved for women will also be rotated after each delimitation process. The Act connects to the earlier, lapsed attempts like the 81st Constitutional Amendment Bill of 1996 and the 108th Amendment Bill of 2008, which had been passed by the Rajya Sabha but lapsed in the Lok Sabha.