Women’s Reservation Bill — From 1931 to Nari Shakti Vandan Act 2023

CURRENT AFFAIRS | 10 APRIL 2026

CLAT GK + INDIAN POLITY & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Women’s Reservation: An Arduous Journey from the National Movement to the Nari Shakti Vandan Act

Writing in the Indian Express Ideas page, Priyanka Chaturvedi traces the long and winding road of women’s political representation in India — a journey that did not begin with the Nari Shakti Vandan Act of 2023, but stretches back to the very foundations of the national movement.

The Historical Roots: 1931 and the Constituent Assembly

In 1931, Begum Shah Nawaz and Sarojini Naidu wrote to the British Prime Minister seeking not preferential treatment, but equality for Indian women. This early articulation set the tone for the decades-long debate. When the Constituent Assembly convened in 1947, freedom fighter Renuka Ray raised the question of women’s representation. However, the Assembly, in its optimism, deemed separate reservation unnecessary — believing that equal voting rights under universal adult franchise would naturally lead to adequate representation.

That optimism proved misplaced. In the first general elections of 1951, only 5% of MPs elected were women. Seven decades later, in 2024, the figure stands at just 15%. Among 4,660 MPs and MLAs across the country, only 464 are women.

The Nari Shakti Vandan Act 2023: A Breakthrough with a Caveat

The NDA government pushed through the Nari Shakti Vandan (Women’s Reservation) Act 2023 during the 18th special session of Parliament, providing 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. This was hailed as a historic moment — but with a significant caveat: the Act requires delimitation of constituencies before implementation, meaning the reservation will not take effect until after the next delimitation exercise.

The Opposition has argued that they were not taken in confidence. Meanwhile, the NDA has now proposed a 33% expansion of Lok Sabha to 816 seats as an alternative mechanism, allowing the addition of women’s seats without displacing existing constituencies.

The Numbers Tell the Story

The persistent gender gap in Indian politics is stark. Even progressive parties have struggled: in Kerala’s elections across 140 constituencies, the BJP fielded only 14 women candidates while the CPM fielded 12. The TMC, often cited as a relatively progressive party on gender, has 52 women representatives, while the DMK allocated 38 of its 164 seats to women. These numbers fall far short of the 33% target.

Local Bodies: The Success Story

Interestingly, the one area where women’s reservation has already been implemented successfully is at the local body level. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments (1992) mandated one-third reservation for women in Panchayats and Municipalities respectively. This has created a pipeline of over 14 lakh elected women representatives at the grassroots level — the world’s largest such experiment in women’s political empowerment.