The Women's Reservation Act (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam), passed in 2023, provides for 33% reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. However, its actual implementation is constitutionally linked to the delimitation exercise, which itself is tied to the first census conducted after the Act's commencement.
This linkage matters because delimitation - the redrawing of constituency boundaries based on population - has been frozen since 1976 to avoid penalising states with better population control. Any fresh delimitation raises federal concerns, particularly from southern states fearing reduced representation relative to more populous northern states.
For exam purposes, this touches on Article 82 (delimitation after each census), the 84th and 87th Amendments (freezing delimitation), and the 106th Constitutional Amendment (women's reservation). Aspirants should note the interplay between demographic representation, federalism, and gender justice in India's electoral architecture.