Govt says 106th Constitutional Amendment Act to be effective from April 16

The government on Thursday announced that the Constitutional (106th) Amendment Act 2023, which includes Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, is now effective from April 16, 2026.

The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, under the Constitutional (106th) Amendment Act 2023, provides for nearly one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies and the Delhi Assembly, as per the law’s provisions.

Also read: Women's Reservation Bill 2026: After 30 years, here's how India moves to reserve 33% seats for women in Parliament


The enactment move comes at a time when the Central government is making efforts to fast-track the implementation of the law by amending provisions that had linked the quota to a future Census and delimitation exercise, which would otherwise have delayed its rollout until at least 2034, as per news agency PTI.

As per the official gazette, the law contains provisions to reserve seats for women, including within the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) quotas, and mandates that such reservations should come into effect only after a delimitation exercise based on the first Census conducted after the law’s enactment.

It also provided that the reservation will operate for 15 years from commencement and that seats will be rotated after each delimitation cycle.

The government has also proposed certain amendments to the Constitutional (106th) Amendment Act 2023.

Also read: Explained: Women’s reservation, delimitation and Nari Shakti; inside govt’s three-act play in special April 16-18 session

What are the proposed amendments to the 2023 Act?

The government is now planning to amend the 2023 law to enable earlier implementation by delinking it from the pending Census, PTI reported earlier, citing sources.

The proposals mandate one-third reservation for women and include a uniform 50% increase in seats, raising the Lok Sabha's strength from 543 to 816 and total assembly seats from 4,123 to 6,186. Upon enactment, the Act translates into 273 seats for women in the Lok Sabha and over 2,000 seats across state assemblies.

The women's reservation will follow a vertical model, ensuring quotas within SC and ST categories as well.

As per a PTI report, the redrawing of constituencies is expected to be based on the 2011 Census instead of waiting for fresh population data, allowing the reservation to be rolled out in time for the 2029 elections. The proposed laws, once passed, are expected to come into force by March 31, 2029.