The government has called a special session of Parliament from 16 to 18 April to implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Act. In this session, the government is going to bring three important bills which will implement 33 percent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 will be introduced in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal. This important constitutional amendment is a major step towards making the country’s changing population structure, population imbalance between states, urbanization and democratic representation more inclusive and balanced.

Background of the Bill

Under Articles 82 and 170 of the Constitution, there is a provision for delimitation of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies after every census. However, the allocation of seats based on the 1971 census was postponed until the first census after 2026 through the Constitution (84th Amendment) Act, 2001. After this, through the Constitution (87th Amendment) Act, 2003, the boundaries of the constituencies were redrawn on the basis of the 2001 census, but the total number of seats was kept the same.

At present, due to wide changes in the population structure of the country, disparity in population growth among states, internal migration and rapid urbanization, the balance of representation in many constituencies has deteriorated. Keeping this in mind, this bill has been brought.

Major change in the structure of Lok Sabha

Important amendments in the composition of the Lok Sabha are proposed under the Bill:
• Proposal to increase the total number of members in the Lok Sabha to a maximum of 850.
• By direct election from 815 member states.
• 35 members from union territories

This increase has been done with the aim of ensuring representation in accordance with the current population of the country.

new definition of population

It has been clarified in the Bill that population will mean the census which will be determined by the Parliament by law and the official figures of which will have been published. This provision will apply equally to Presidential elections (Article 55), Lok Sabha (Article 81), State Legislative Assemblies (Article 170) and provisions related to reservation (Article 330, 332).

Improvement in delimitation process

• The task of allocation of seats and redefinition of constituencies will now be clearly entrusted to the Delimitation Commission
• The process has been made more flexible and timely by removing the provision of post-census requirement.
• The obligation to wait for the census after 2026 has been abolished

This will make the rescheduling process faster and effective.

Women’s reservation will get its real form: This bill has been brought to speed up the implementation of the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Act).

key provisions

• One-third seats in the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir assemblies will be reserved for women.
• This reservation will be applicable after the completion of the delimitation process.
• Rotation of reserved seats will be done, so that different areas get equal opportunity.
• The period of reservation has been fixed at 15 years (which the Parliament can extend).

This step will contribute significantly to empowering women’s political participation and leadership.

Amendment in reservation of Scheduled Tribes

Amendments have been made to the Bill keeping in mind the special socio-cultural scenario of the North-Eastern States:

• Special provision to maintain ST representation in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland
• Arrangement to preserve the present representation ratio in Tripura also.

Ensure constitutional balance and continuity

• The tenure of the current Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies will remain unaffected until the new provisions are implemented.
• The new system will be implemented only after delimitation.
• This will ensure continuity in governance and representation

The government will bring a total of three bills in this session. Constitutional Amendment 131 in which there will be a proposal to increase the number of seats. The second bill will be Delimitation Bill 2026, under which Delimitation Commission will be constituted and the third bill will be Union Territory Law (Amendment) 2026.

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