Cabinet clears bills to enable 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha, assemblies

The Women’s reservation bill stipulates setting aside one third or 33% of the total seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval for the introduction of two bills in the upcoming sitting of Parliament that will pave the way for the implementation of 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, and the setting up of a delimitation commission, a person aware of the details said.

Centre moves to roll out 33% quota for women, delimitation exercise in pipeline(Sansad TV)

According to the person, the Cabinet’s sanction came ahead of the sitting of Parliament between April 16 and 18.

The Women’s reservation bill or the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 that was passed in Parliament in September 2023, stipulates setting aside one third or 33% of the total seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women.

HT reported earlier that the government was working on delinking the bill to provide 33% reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies from the ongoing census, and roll out the law from 2029 general elections. This will involve raising the number of seats in the legislatures by 50%. The amendments could see the number of seats in the Lok Sabha increase to 816. Of this, 273 will be reserved for women, and the proportional representation of each state will remain the same. The number 816 is close to the 814.5 figure that can be arrived at by increasing the number of seats in the Lok Sabha, currently at 543, by 50%.