Kashmir Impulse Desk

New Delhi, April 17 

The Centre on Friday notified the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act, extending 33 percent quota provisions for women in legislatures to Jammu and Kashmir and other union territories.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said the provisions of the amended law would come into force from April 17, 2026, under separate notifications issued for Jammu and Kashmir and union territories.

The law, formally known as the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, was passed by parliament in 2023 to reserve one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.

The notification comes as parliament debates further amendments aimed at advancing the timeline for implementation of the quota, which under the 2023 framework is linked to a delimitation exercise following the next census.

Officials said the reservation provisions under the original law are tied to post-census delimitation and were expected to take effect later in the decade, while the current legislative proposals seek to enable implementation by 2029.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has described the measure as a step toward improving women’s representation in political decision-making.

The development comes amid ongoing debate in parliament over related bills on delimitation and expansion of legislative bodies required to operationalise the quota system.