Women’s Quota Deferred, Justice Denied

The Supreme Court’s exasperation over the inordinate delay in implementing women’s reservation in Parliament and State Assemblies is both timely and justified. More than a year has passed since the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam—promising 33 percent reservation for women—was enacted and signed by President Droupadi Murmu. Yet, like so many promises to women, this one too remains only on paper. The government’s explanation is that the law will come into force only after the next census and the subsequent delimitation of constituencies. Nobody knows when these will take place. It is a convenient bureaucratic smokescreen designed to indefinitely postpone what should have been a historic reform. If general elections can be held without a fresh census or delimitation, there is no earthly reason why women’s reservation cannot be implemented immediately.

Justice B.V. Nagarathna, the lone woman on the Supreme Court Bench hearing the case along with Justice R. Mahadevan, asked the most pertinent question: what prevents political parties themselves from allotting one-third of their tickets to women? The answer, of course, is nothing—except a deep-rooted patriarchy that pervades every political formation. Whether it is the Right, the Left, or the Centre, the story is the same: lofty talk in public, but quiet sabotage in private. For instance, elections are now underway in Bihar, and not a single party has given one-third of its tickets to women. Yet, the same parties loudly proclaim their commitment to the cause from public platforms. If they were serious, they could have demonstrated it by voluntary action. The Constitution does not stop them from fielding as many women as they wish. What stops them is the fear of losing control of power to a new, assertive constituency.

Justice Nagarathna was right in observing that women, who constitute 48.44 percent of India’s population, are the largest minority and deserve political justice on par with social and economic justice. Article 15(3) of the Constitution explicitly empowers the state to take affirmative action in their favour. The success of the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments—ensuring one-third representation for women in panchayats and urban local bodies—has already shown that women can lead effectively when given a fair chance. From the village panchayat to both Houses of Parliament, the ladder of empowerment must not have missing rungs. Delaying the women’s reservation law until some future census is not just administrative procrastination; it is a betrayal of constitutional morality. India cannot claim to be the world’s largest democracy while half its population remains underrepresented. The time for tokenism is over. The government must act now—and truly “vandan” the women of India, not with words, but with power.