Women quota law to be ‘in place’ for 2029 LS elections

With the Census exercise set to begin this month, chances for the implementation of the 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies are looking up.

A top government source on Wednesday confirmed that the provisions of the women’s reservation law would roll by the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Amendment) Act, 2023, which provides for women’s reservation itself states that reservation of seats for women in the House of the People and the legislative Assemblies will come into effect after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken for this purpose after the relevant figures for the first Census taken after the commencement of the said Constitutional Amendment Act have been published.

Sources said the implementation of the women’s reservation looked achievable by the 2029 General Election.

On June 4, the government had announced that population Census, 2027, would be conducted in two phases along with enumeration of castes. The reference date for population Census-2027 will be 00:00 hours of March 1, 2027.

For the Union Territory of Ladakh and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 00.00 hours of October 1, 2026.

Top Government sources today said, “The process of Census will begin with the issuance of the notification. The notification of intent to conduct the Census will be published in the official gazette on June 16 tentatively. The second and final phase of the Census will begin in February 2027 and conclude on March 1, 2027 (reference date).”

The Constitutional amendment act which provides for women’s reservation does not clarify how the reserved segments will be determined and adds that one-third of the SC and ST reserved seats will also be set aside for women from these groups.

BJP to hold mock Parliaments on 50^th year of Emergency

Top BJP sources said the party would organise mock Parliaments across the country to mark 50 years of the imposition of Emergency by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975. The events will witness a reading of the 42nd amendment, which, apart from introducing the words “socialist and secular” to the Preamble, significantly impacted judicial review in India, limiting the scope of judicial scrutiny of laws passed by Parliament. “Mock Parliaments will have two sides for the debate on the Emergency with speakers to reveal what top BJP leaders of the time, including AB Vajpayee, said about the enactment in 1976,” a top BJP leader said.