Article 330A: Reservation of seats for women in the House of the People
Article 330A of Indian Constitution
Article330A: Reservation of seats for women in the House of the People.
- Seats shall be reserved for women in the House of the People.
- As nearly as may be, one-third of the total number of seats reserved under clause (2) of article 330 shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes.
- As nearly as may be, one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election to the House of the People shall be reserved for women.
Commentary on Article 330A of Indian Constitution
The Parliament in September 2023 passed the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, also known as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, providing Reservation for women in 1/3rd of the seats in Lok Sabha, state legislatures and Legislature of NCT of Delhi.
Section 1 of the Article 330A have stated that seats shall be reserved for women in the Lok Sabha.
If a state or Union Territory has only one seat, it will be reserved for women on a rotational basis, in this case, in every third election, with the seat being unreserved in the two intervening elections.
In the seats reserved for scheduled castes, and scheduled Tribes, the act sought to assign a third of these seats to women on a rotational basis. So, in effect, no seat would have been reserved for scheduled caste and schedule Tribe women in consecutive elections.
Timeline of the Bill:
It took almost twenty-seven years to pass the bill. The bill was first introduced by the H.D. Deve Gowda led government in 1996. The bill was then referred to the joint parliamentary committee led by Geeta Mukherjee, which submitted its report to Lok Sabha in December 1996 but with no results, the bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
In 1998, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government reintroduced the Bill in Lok Sabha. The bill failed to get support and lapsed again. The bill was introduced in 1999, 2002 and 2003. Even though there was support for it within congress, the BJP and the Left Parties, the bill failed to receive majority votes.
In 2008, the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government tabled the bill in the Rajya Sabha, and it was passed in 2010 as the one Hundred and Eighth Amendment bill, 2008. However, the bill was never taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha and lapsed with the dissolution of the fifteenth Lok Sabha in 2014.
Finally, the bill has been passed as the one Hundred and Twenty eighth amendment bill, 2023.
The bill seeks to reserve one-third of the total seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women.
Then Bill also seeks to reserve one third of the total seats reserved for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes for women belonging to SCs and STs, by inserting Article 330A in the constitution of India.
106th Constitutional Amendment Act:
The reservations would continue for 15 years and can be further extended by the Parliament.
It amends the following Articles of the Constitution:
- Insertion of Article 330A: 1/3rd of the seats in Lok Sabha shall be reserved for women. It includes 1/3rd horizontal Reservation in seats reserved for SCs and STs.
- Insertion of Article 332A: 1/3rd of the seats in state assemblies shall be reserved for women. It includes 1/3rd horizontal Reservation in seats reserved for SCs and STs.
- Article 239AA: 1/3rd of the seats in the assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi shall be reserved for women. It includes 1/3rd horizontal Reservation in seats for SCs.
- Insertion of 334A: The provisions for Reservation would come into effect after the delimitation is undertaken on the basis of the first census after the commencement of this Act. The Reservation of seats in house of the people and state assemblies will cease to have effect after the expiration of 15 years from such commencement.
Note: The strength of women MPs in the current Lok Sabha (17th Lok Sabha) is 15%, and in the Rajya Sabha the number is 14%.
Note: The strength of women MLAs in the state assemblies was around 9% in 2019 (ADR report).
| Amendments | Description |
| 106th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2023 |
Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam inserted: 1. Articles 330A and 332A providing Reservation for women in 1/3rd of the seats in Lok Sabha and the state legislatures. 2. Article 239AA is amended providing for Reservation for women in 1/3rd of the seats in Legislative assembly of NCT of Delhi. 3. Article 334A extends this reservation for of 15 years from such commencement. The Commencement shall happen with the first election after the first census after 2023. |
For Further Reference:
Read the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, as published in the Official Gazette of the Government of India.
Read the Parliament.
