Law Minister Tables Three Bills: Women's Quota to 2029, Lok Sabha Expands to 815 Seats
Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced three major Bills in the Lok Sabha during the special parliamentary session: (i) the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026; (ii) the Delimitation Bill, 2026; (iii) the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
Meghwal announced that Lok Sabha's strength will increase to 815 seats for states (plus 35 for union territories, totalling 850 maximum), of which 272 seats (one-third of 815) will be reserved for women.
A key assurance given: no state will suffer a net reduction in its absolute seat count; the expansion of the House is specifically designed to accommodate both women's reservation and demographic realignment without taking seats from any state.
Women's reservation is targeted for implementation before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, ending the prolonged deferral tied to census and delimitation conditions under the 106th Amendment (2023).
SC and ST women will receive reservation within the women's quota — one-third of SC/ST-reserved seats will also be reserved for women from those communities.
The 106th Constitutional Amendment (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023): What It Promised and What Delayed It
The Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023 — also called the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam — was passed in September 2023 with near-unanimous support in both Houses. It inserted Articles 330A, 332A, and 334A into the Constitution to provide one-third reservation for women in Lok Sabha, state assemblies, and the Delhi assembly.
The 131st Amendment Bill directly amends Article 334A to remove the census-linkage condition, enabling women's reservation to take effect immediately after the 2026 delimitation exercise — targeting the 2029 elections.
Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026: What It Amends
The 131st Amendment is a comprehensive constitutional reform bill that addresses three interlocking issues simultaneously: Lok Sabha expansion, delimitation unfreezing, and women's reservation acceleration.
Meghwal introduced this as the constitutional enabling legislation — without this amendment, neither the Delimitation Bill nor women's reservation acceleration would have constitutional validity.
Women's Reservation: A Legislative History
The push for women's reservation in Parliament and state assemblies dates back to 1996 when the 81st Constitutional Amendment Bill was first introduced. It lapsed repeatedly over nearly three decades due to political disagreements about OBC sub-quotas within women's reservation.
The three bills introduced by Meghwal represent the culmination of a 30-year legislative journey, now targeting the 2029 Lok Sabha as the first election to be held under women's reservation.
Seat Rotation Mechanism Under Women's Reservation
The women's reservation framework uses a rotation system to distribute the burden and benefit of reserved constituencies across all parts of each state over successive elections.
Key Details
- Reserved seats are allotted "by rotation among different constituencies" in each state or union territory (Article 334A).
- After each delimitation exercise, the rotation shifts, ensuring different constituencies take turns being reserved for women.
- This means no single constituency is permanently reserved for women — preventing permanent disadvantage to male candidates in any area.
- SC/ST-reserved seats that also become women-reserved seats follow the same rotation principle.
With 272 out of 815 state Lok Sabha seats to be reserved for women, the rotation mechanism becomes critical for distributing which specific constituencies will be affected first in the 2029 elections.
- Three bills introduced: Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, Delimitation Bill 2026, Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill 2026.
- Lok Sabha expansion: maximum 850 seats (815 from states + 35 from union territories).
- Women's seats: 272 (one-third of 815 state seats).
- The 106th Amendment (2023) inserted Articles 330A, 332A, and 334A into the Constitution.
- Women's reservation was first seriously proposed in Parliament in 1996; it took 27 years to become law (2023) and will take a further 6 years (2029) to implement.
- 15-year sunset period on women's reservation begins from date of implementation.
- SC/ST women will receive reservation within the women's quota — one-third of SC/ST seats will be reserved for women from those communities.
- India currently has 82 women MPs in Lok Sabha (about 15% of 543 seats); the 33% reservation would mean approximately 272 women in an 815-member House.