Kashmir Impulse Desk

Srinagar, April 17 The Women’s Reservation Act has formally come into force, but the provision for 33 percent reservation for women in legislatures will only be implemented after a future delimitation exercise linked to the next census, officials said.

The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 – which provides for one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies – was notified earlier this week, bringing the law into effect.

Separate notifications issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs brought corresponding provisions into force for Jammu and Kashmir and other union territories from April 17, 2026.

However, officials said the actual reservation of seats will depend on a delimitation process to be conducted after the next census, expected in 2027, delaying implementation until later in the decade.

The development comes after a separate constitutional amendment bill aimed at advancing the rollout of women’s reservation before the 2029 elections failed to secure the required two-thirds majority in the lower house of parliament.

Following the bill’s defeat, the government did not proceed with related legislation on delimitation and amendments to union territory laws, which were intended to align the reservation framework with the electoral map.

Under the existing law, nearly one-third of seats in legislative bodies, including in Jammu and Kashmir, are to be reserved for women, with sub-quotas for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

The provisions also stipulate that reserved seats will be allocated through a rotation mechanism after delimitation and will remain in force for a fixed period, subject to further parliamentary approval.