The Women’s Reservation Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on September 20 and by the Rajya Sabha on September 21, before it received the President’s assent on September 28.
The Act adds Article 334A to the Constitution of India. The new Article states that reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies will come into effect only after a delimitation exercise is carried out. This process will take place following the results of the first census conducted after the amendment.
Dr Thakur’s plea stated that the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023 should be implemented immediately without waiting for the conduct of a census or the delimitation exercise.
To this end, the plea seeks the declaration of the words “after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken for this purpose after the relevant figures for the first census” in Article 334A as void ab initio.
The census, which is usually conducted once every 10 years, was earlier scheduled for 2021. However, it was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and is now expected to take place in 2024.
Source: Barandbench
