Women Reservation Act 2023 comes into force ahead of voting to its amendment in LS
New Delhi (PTI): The Women Reservation Act 2023, which gives 33 per cent quota to women in legislatures, came into force on Thursday to operationalise the proposed amendment being discussed in Parliament.
An official explained that bringing the law into force was essential as its proposed amendment will not have come into effect without that.
The constitution amendment Bill became a law but did not become part of the Constitution as the government did not bring it into force.
If a law does not come into force, how can its proposed amendment be implemented. Hence it was brought into force with effect from April 16, the official explained.
The 2023 act was notified with effect from April 16 in the midst of the debate in Parliament to amend the same law for its implementation in 2029.
Another official had Thursday night cited "technicalities" for bringing the law into force without elaborating. Though the act has come into force, the reservation cannot be implemented in the current House, the official said.
Reservation for women can be implemented after carrying out a delimitation exercise on the basis of the next Census, the official said.
The notification read: "In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, the Central Government hereby appoints the 16th day of April, 2026 as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force."
In September 2023, Parliament passed the 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam', commonly known as the Women's Reservation Act, in a significant step towards enhancing women's representation in legislative bodies.
The act provided for the reservation of one-third of seats for women in Lok Sabha and state legislative Assemblies.
Under the 2023 law, the reservation would not become enforceable before 2034, as it was tied to the completion of the delimitation exercise post 2027 Census.
The three bills -- 'The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026', 'The Delimitation Bill, 2026' and 'The Union Territories Laws (Amendment Bill), 2026' --currently being debated in Lok Sabha were brought in by the government so that the women quota could be implemented in 2029.
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Delimitation will turn out to be 'political demonetisation': Tharoor slams govt
New Delhi (PTI): Delimitation will turn out to be "political demonetisation", senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Friday while slamming the government for linking women's reservation with the expansion of Parliament.
Participating in a debate in the Lok Sabha on the three bills introduced for amendments in the women's quota law and setting up a delimitation commission, Tharoor said linking women's reservation with delimitation is to hold the aspirations of Indian women hostage to "one of the most contentious and complex" administrative exercises in the country's history.
"Today we stand at a threshold where there is near unanimous political consensus in favour of women's reservation. Every major party realises that the time for tokenism is over and the era of collective partnership must begin and yet I am finding myself deeply perturbed by the legislative exercise before us," he said.
"The prime minister says he has brought 'nari shakti' the gift of justice but he has wrapped it in barbed wire, tethering the implementation of women's reservation to the expansion of Parliament, to numbers from the 2011 census and an exercise of delimitation... Why must we entangle a moral imperative with a demographic minefield, he asked.
Women's reservation, he said, is ready for harvest and can and should be implemented immediately based on existing parliamentary strength.
"Delimitation is not a mere bureaucratic rearranging of maps, it is a profound shift in political power that is intended....Any delimitation exercise is fraught with complications that could tear at the very fabric of our federalism," he said.
"You have proposed delimitation with such haste, the same haste that you showed on demonetisation. Unfortunately, we all know what damage that did to the country. Delimitation will turn out to be political demonetisation. Don't do it," Tharoor said.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to tweak the women's quota law was introduced in Lok Sabha on Thursday after a division of votes.
Two ordinary bills -- the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill to implement the proposed amended women's quota law in Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir -- were also introduced in the House.
