Clearing the constitutional fog on women’s reservation in Parliament

THE REPORTED DECISION to summon Parliament from April 16 to 18, 2026, has sparked intense debate on the manner of implementation of a historic and three-decade-old bipartisan demand for women's reservation in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies to promote diversity and inclusivity in representative democracy. However, this bipartisan policy reservation of one-third seats for women in Parliament, formalised by the Constitution (Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023 under Article 330A, is linked to the extremely controversial delimitation exercise under Article 334A of the Constitution of India. 

This linking of women’s reservation demand to the delimitation exercise has sparked concerns about the possible changes to the size of the Lok Sabha and allocation of seats among States. A shifting of power dynamics between northern States and southern and eastern States if the number of seats increases from 543 to 816 has been a matter of serious federal concern. South Indians especially feel penalized for slower population growth in the states. A clear understanding of the constitutional position is necessary to clear the fog around historic bipartisan steps taken by the Parliament for the reservations for women. 

Constitutional landscape 

On the bipartisan demand of reservation of one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, Articles 330A and 334A were inserted in the Constitution by the 106th Amendment Act. However, its implementation has been deferred until the delimitation exercise, based on publication of the first census taken after the commencement of the Amendment Act. There is no clarity on the commencement of the Amendment Act. 

The allocation of seats and revision of territorial constituencies shall be carried out by an independent constitutional authority known as the Delimitation Commission, established by Parliament under Article 82 of the Constitution. The delimitation exercise determines the number of “territorial constituencies” in the Lok Sabha and their distribution. It is critical for defining the voice of the people in a democracy. The Constitution addresses the number of “territorial constituencies” in the Lok Sabha and dictates its allocation among the States based on their population. 

However, the Constitution does not dictate that the size of the Lok Sabha represented by “territorial constituencies” shall be revised periodically. But, about allocation of seats to the States out of total territorial constituencies, the Constitution mandates periodic revision linked to the census. 

Article 81(1) has frozen the total membership of the Lok Sabha at an upper limit of 550 since 1987. It consists of 530 members chosen from the States and twenty members chosen from Union territories by direct election as mandated by the Parliament by law. The size of the Lok Sabha was initially fixed at 500 when the Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949, but it was marginally expanded from time to time depending on exigencies. At present, in the 18th Lok Sabha, it is 530 from the States and thirteen from the Union Territories, totalling 543 as against the upper limit of 550 seats. 

The allocation of seats to the States and identification of territorial constituencies are mandated by sub clauses (a) and (b), respectively, of Article 81(2). Unlike the total size of the Lok Sabha, the internal allocation of seats to the States and territorial constituencies is linked to the “population” of the last preceding census by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956. However, by the Constitution (Eighty Fourth Amendment) Act, 2001, the census of 1971 and 2001 was prescribed for the allocation of seats and revision of territorial constituencies respectively, with an important directive that it holds good until the figures for the first census “after” the year 2026 are published.