The Indian Parliament took a revolutionary step towards women representation by passing the Women Reservation Bill in the name of “NARI SHAKTI VANDHAN ADHINIYAM” in September, 2023. It was historic milestone towards gender equality in Indian politics. The bill aims to reserve 33% of seats for women in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament) and in state legislative assemblies (the lower house of the state or union territory legislature). It became a 106^th Constitutional Amendment Act 2023.

Though the Indian constitution, according to article 326 guarantees the universal adult franchise without any discrimination on the basis of gender, caste, community, and ethnicity etc., political representation is only a single digit in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha upto 2009 (14^th Lok Sabha) and also more or less the same in state legislative assemblies. Even after 75 years of independence the women representation in parliament is only around 15%, but the international average is 26.9 % and Asia average is 21.4 %. Hence, this initiative is seen as an imperative step in addressing the underrepresentation of women in political decision-making and fostering a more inclusive governance structure.

The reservations for women were already provided in local bodies through the 73^rd and 74^th Constitutional Amendment Acts of 1992. Many states enhanced these reservations in local bodies from 33% to 50 % like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, and Bihar etc.