India has already made a constitutional commitment to reserve one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. The national task now is to translate that commitment into an orderly, transparent, and time-bound implementation process so that the objective is achieved well before the 2029 general election. Byline By Kallol Saha   India has reached an important democratic milestone in accepting the principle of greater representation for women in legislatures.

India does not need another symbolic endorsement of women’s political representation. It needs implementation. The constitutional principle is already settled: the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 provides one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha, State Assemblies, and the Delhi Assembly, including within SC and ST reserved seats. But the same law also postpones implementation until after delimitation based on the first census figures published after the Act’s

The Lok Sabha on Friday, April 17, 2026, turned into the centre of one of the most consequential constitutional debates in recent years, as Members discussed a package of three linked measures: the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Delimitation Bill, 2026, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The government argued that the package was meant to operationalise one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies before the 2029 ge