Patna High Court Advocates demand immediate implementation of Women's Reservation Act

The advocates of Patna High Court organized a talk on the subject of "In Defense of Women's Reservation Act" on April 23, 2026. The subject was introduced by Y. C. Verma, senior advocate. He underlined that the woman's reservation act was guided by the quest for political justice. While concluding the subject, advocate Dr. Gopal Krishna pointed out that they who do not have sense of beauty cannot have sense of justice. The supporters of immediate implementation of Women's Reservation Act have a sense beauty which inspires their sense of justice. The advocates who spoke on the occasion included Ayushi Chaudhary, Nupur, Isha Ann, Kumari Akanksha Rai. Chaudhary underlined that Bihar’s experience of electing more than 50 per cent of women to Panchayats in the state is creating a strong base of women leaders over multiple election cycles. These advocates argued that what is being promised in the name of woman's reservation was akin to promising 33 % share in mangoes once there are 85 mangoes on the tree. Women are demanding share in the existing mangoes. 

महिलाओं की मांग हैं कि वर्तमान 543 सीटों के आधार पर महिलाओं के लिए 33 प्रतिशत आरक्षण तत्काल लागू किया जाय. 16 से 18 अप्रैल को बुलाए गए संसद के विशेष सत्र में  किया तीन विधेयक पेश किए गये:-केंद्र शासित प्रदेश क़ानून (संशोधन) विधेयक 2026, संविधान (131वां संशोधन) विधेयक 2026, परिसीमन विधेयक 2026 (डीलिमिटेशन बिल 2026). 

नारी शक्ति वंदन अधिनियम (128वां संविधान संशोधन विधेयक, 2023), जो अब 106वां संविधान संशोधन अधिनियम, 2023 है, संसद और राज्य विधानसभाओं में महिलाओं के लिए 33% (एक-तिहाई) सीटें आरक्षित करता है। सितंबर 2023 में पारित यह कानून लोकसभा, राज्य विधानसभाओं और दिल्ली विधानसभा में लागू होगा, जिसे 16 अप्रैल 2026 से प्रभावी किया गया है. 19 सितंबर 2023 को सरकार ने नए संसद भवन में लोकसभा में संसद के विशेष सत्र के दौरान इस विधेयक को 128वें संवैधानिक संशोधन विधेयक, 2023 के रूप में पेश किया गया था.

Noted journalists like Arvind Ujjwal and Mukesh Kumar Singh and advocates like Ram Jiban Prasad Singh, Dr. S,S.P. Yadav, Manju Sharma, Jnana Chandra Bhardwaj, Rajaram Rai, Neeraj Kumar and Priya Kumari graced the occasion. 

 

The speakers noted that on April 17, 2026, the Lok Sabha rejected the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026. Consequently, the government withdrew the Delimitation Bill, 2026 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which were dependent on the amendment. The failed amendment aimed to increase Lok Sabha seats to 850, linking 33% women's reservation to 2011 census-based delimitation. Notably, the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 failed to pass after receiving only 278 votes in favor (failing to secure the required two-thirds majority). Delimitation Bill, 2026 was withdrawn following the failure of the 131st Amendment Bill. The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 too was withdrawn following the failure of the 131st Amendment Bill. 

 

The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 had proposed increasing the maximum total strength of the Lok Sabha to 850 members (815 from states, 35 from Union Territories), expanding it from the current 550. The bill aimed to facilitate delimitation based on the 2011 Census to implement 33% women's reservation, but failed to pass. 

Tracing the history of the demand for women's rights in the writings of Mary Wollstonecraft, Dr. Krishna drew the attention of the advocates towards what she wrote in her A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) after writing A Vindication of the Rights of Men, in a Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, occaisioned by his Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). She demanded equality based on natural reason because denying equality to women is indefensible. She wrote:"we shall not see women affectionate till more equality be established in society, till ranks are confounded and women freed, neither shall we see that dignified domestic happiness, the simple grandeur of which cannot be relished by ignorant or vitiated minds; nor will the important task of education ever be properly begun till the person of a woman is no longer preferred to her mind. For it would be as wise to expect corn from tares, or figs from thistles, as that a foolish ignorant woman should be a good mother." The enactment of the law was long due but its continued presence as a post dated cheque is indefensible. 

Expressing his support for the enactment of the Constitution (106th) Amendment Act, 2023, Dr. Krishna contended that Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam should be implemented in right earnest. In 2023, the Parliament had passed the law unanimously to foster equitable representation of women in public life. This landmark legislation rotationally reserves one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and in all State Legislative Assemblies, including the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam notification was issued to implement old laws that were not implemented earlier.