The amendment Bill, to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women, will seek to provide the reservation on the basis of the 2011 Census.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Narendra Modi government on Monday (March 23, 2026) indicated that it will bring amendments to the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023 to ensure its implementation for the 2029 Lok Sabha election, along with an increase in the number of Parliamentary seats for women.
The amendment Bill, to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women, will seek to provide the reservation on the basis of the 2011 Census. Government managers, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, met with leaders of several Opposition parties on Monday (March 23, 2026), including the Nationalist Congress Party (SP)’s Supriya Sule, YSR Congress Party’s P.V. Midhun Reddy, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Asaduddin Reddy and the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Arvind Sawant, among others. The Trinamool Congress and Left parties skipped the meeting. The government managers had consulted the Congress and Samajwadi Party earlier.
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Following the latest development, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, had a closed-door meeting with party colleagues Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday (March 23, 2026) morning. He is likely to have a meeting of floor leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Tuesday (March 24, 2026) morning.
Sources in the government said only then will the amendments to the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 or the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023 be introduced for passage, either in the ongoing Budget Session itself, or in a Special Session to be called.
“The amendments will require two-thirds majority of both Houses which is why extensive consultations are being held with the Opposition. Under the amendments that the government wants to bring in, the basis for the selection of seats will be the Census data of 2011. The number of seats in Parliament will increase to 816, out of which 273 will be reserved for women,” said a government source.
These sources said efforts will be made either to pass the Bill in the current Session of Parliament or to convene a Special Session as several leaders will be travelling because of the upcoming Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry.
The Act originally passed in September 2023 envisaged the conduct of the Decadal Census, followed by delimitation of seats. The 2021 Census, which got delayed because of COVID, is beginning next month. However, by bringing in fresh amendments, the government is now seeking to bring forward the implementation of the Act.
Later in the day Union Minister Amit Shah also held a meeting with NDA floor leaders over the amendments. Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju, Lalan Singh of the Janata Dal (U), Anupriya Patel of the Apna Dal and MPs Upendra Kushwaha, Shrikant Shinde, Milind Deora, M. Thambi Durai, Praful Patel, Rajkumar Sangwan, along with several other NDA MPs, were present at the meeting.
Published – March 23, 2026 10:11 pm IST
