Article 334A
The Trigger Clause and Its Proposed Modification
Article 334A was inserted into the Constitution by the 106th Amendment Act, 2023. It specifies that the reservation of seats for women (under Articles 330A and 332A) shall come into effect only after: (i) the figures of the first census taken after the commencement of the 106th Amendment have been published, and (ii) a delimitation exercise is undertaken for this purpose based on those census figures. This two-step trigger has delayed implementation indefinitely, since the post-2021 census has not yet been conducted. The proposed constitutional amendment would substitute the 2011 census in place of the forthcoming census, removing the waiting period.
- Article 334A also provides that the reservation shall remain in force for 15 years from its date of commencement, with Parliament empowered to extend it by law
- Rotation: Seats reserved for women shall be rotated after each subsequent delimitation exercise, as Parliament may determine
- The 106th Amendment also amended Article 239AA (Delhi) to extend women's reservation to the Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi
- A constitutional amendment to modify Article 334A would itself require two-thirds special majority under Article 368 and cannot be introduced as a Money Bill
- Precedent for census substitution: The 15th Finance Commission used 2011 census data for horizontal devolution; the 2002 Delimitation Commission used 2001 census data even though subsequent census data was available for some purposes
● Tracked since March 23, 2026 · last seen August 10, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes