NEW DELHI — The Union Government is moving to delink the 33% women’s reservation from the upcoming decadal census, aiming to implement the quota in time for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has initiated high-level consultations with Opposition leaders to build a two-thirds majority consensus for a new Constitutional Amendment Bill.
The proposed strategy involves bypassing the wait for the 2027 Census results by using 2011 Census data as the basis for a fresh delimitation exercise.
Key Proposed Changes:
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Seat Expansion: The total number of Lok Sabha seats could increase by 50%, rising from 543 to 816.
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Reserved Berths: Under this expansion, 273 seats would be reserved for women.
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Pro-Rata Stability: To address concerns from Southern states regarding population-based representation, the government plans to maintain the existing proportion of seats between states.
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Legislative Roadmap: The government is expected to introduce two bills—one to amend the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (2023) and another to amend the Delimitation Act—potentially during the current Budget session.
Current Status:
While the Home Minister has briefed regional parties like the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), Shiv Sena (UBT), and YSRCP, the INDIA bloc, led by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, met on Tuesday to formalize a unified strategy. The Opposition has previously criticized the original law as a “jumla” (empty promise) due to its dependency on the delayed census.
If passed, this would mark the most significant structural shift in the history of the Indian Parliament, changing the majority mark from 272 to 409.
