New Delhi:- The Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has drawn up a proposal to approve amendments to existing laws so that the long-pending 33 percent women's reservation can be implemented by the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
Two bills are expected to be approved for this purpose. The first bill is to amend the 'Nari Shakti Vandana Act' of 2023. According to the current law, one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies can be reserved for women only when the new delimitation of seats is completed after the 2026 census.
The second bill will require amendments to the 84th Amendment to the Constitution, which puts a moratorium on the process of delimitation of seats in India till 2026. Now, to start the delimitation work soon, the government will have to remove this moratorium. The government plans to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies by 50 per cent and provide reservation to women based on the increased number of members in these houses. The Women's Reservation Bill had been pending since the 1990s. It was the first legislative bill to be passed unanimously by the MPs in the new Parliament building in the year 2023.