Women’s Political Representation in India — 106th Amendment, Art 243D & India’s Overdue Correction

CURRENT AFFAIRS | 11 APRIL 2026

CLAT GK + CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

In a compelling editorial, RSS ideologue and political commentator Ram Madhav makes the case for India’s “overdue correction” in women’s political representation. Tracing the journey from the Constituent Assembly to the 106th Constitutional Amendment, Madhav argues that India has both the constitutional tools and the demonstrated evidence to dramatically increase women’s presence in legislative bodies — and that further delay is indefensible.

The Numbers Tell the Story

India’s record on women’s political representation is sobering. The first Lok Sabha in 1952 had approximately 5% women members. Over seven decades later, the 2024 Lok Sabha has only about 14-15% women MPs. This marginal improvement — barely 10 percentage points in 72 years — places India behind global averages and far behind Scandinavian democracies where women’s parliamentary representation exceeds 40%.

Compare this with India’s own experience at the grassroots level. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments (1992) mandated one-third reservation for women in Panchayats and Municipalities. Several states, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, subsequently increased this to 50%. The result has been transformative: over 14 lakh elected women representatives serve in local bodies across India, many of them first-generation political participants.

The Constitutional Architecture

Article 15(3) provides the constitutional foundation for affirmative action for women, enabling the State to make “special provisions for women and children.” This is an enabling clause — not a limitation — that empowers both legislative and executive action.

Article 243D, inserted by the 73rd Amendment, mandates reservation of not less than one-third of total seats in every Panchayat for women, including reservation of offices of Chairpersons. This article, and its municipal counterpart under the 74th Amendment, provided the template for the 106th Amendment.

Articles 330 and 332 currently provide for reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Parliament and State Legislatures. The 106th Amendment extends this reservation model to women — inserting new Articles 330A and 332A that reserve one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.

The 106th Amendment: Promise and Problem

The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (106th Constitutional Amendment) was passed with near-unanimous support in Parliament. It provides for reservation of one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. However, the Amendment is linked to delimitation — it will take effect only after a fresh delimitation exercise based on the first Census conducted after the Amendment’s commencement.

Madhav’s central argument is that Parliament should implement the Amendment without waiting for delimitation. He points to the proven success of the 73rd and 74th Amendments as evidence that reservation works: it brings new voices, new perspectives, and new accountability into governance. Every year of delay means another election cycle where women remain systematically underrepresented.

Landmark Cases on Gender Equality

In Anuj Garg v Hotel Association of India (2008), the Supreme Court struck down Section 30 of the Punjab Excise Act that barred women from employment in premises serving liquor. The Court held that such “protective discrimination” was actually paternalistic discrimination that violated Articles 14, 15, and 21. The judgment established that the State cannot restrict women’s choices under the guise of protecting them.

In C.B. Muthamma v Union of India (1979), Justice Krishna Iyer struck down Indian Foreign Service rules that required women officers to obtain government permission to marry and mandated resignation upon marriage. The case was among the earliest judicial recognitions that gender-based classification in public employment violates the equality guarantee.