ADVANCING GENDER-INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY:  CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL CHALLENGES TO WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN INDIA WITH REFERENCE TO THE WOMEN’S RESERVATION BILL AND RECENT ELECTORAL REFORMS

AUTHOR – G SHANMUGAPRIYA, AMITY INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED LEGAL STUDIES, AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH

BEST CITATION – G SHANMUGAPRIYA, ADVANCING GENDER-INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY:  CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL CHALLENGES TO WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN INDIA WITH REFERENCE TO THE WOMEN’S RESERVATION BILL AND RECENT ELECTORAL REFORMS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (6) OF 2026, PG. 645-652, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

INTRODUCTION

India proudly calls itself the world’s largest democracy, yet there’s an uncomfortable truth we can’t ignore: our Parliament doesn’t look like India. Women make up nearly half our population, but walk into the Lok Sabha and you’ll struggle to find even 15% women representatives. This glaring gap between our democratic ideals and ground reality raises some hard questions about whether our democracy truly represents all of us.

When our Constitution was drafted in 1950, it promised equality for everyone. Articles 14, 15, and 16 explicitly guaranteed that gender wouldn’t be a barrier to opportunity. Article 15(3) even empowered the State to take special steps for women and children. On paper, everything looked perfect. But somehow, seventy-five years later, women’s voices remain conspicuously absent from the halls of power where decisions affecting their lives are made daily.

There was a moment of hope in 1992. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments changed the game for women in local governance, mandating one-third reservation in Panchayats and municipalities. Overnight, India created over a million elected women representatives at the grassroots level. It wasn’t perfect—we saw challenges like husbands operating as ‘remote controls’ for their wives in office—but it proved that women could lead when given the chance.

The obvious next step? Extend this reservation to state assemblies and Parliament. Simple, right? Not quite. What followed was a 27-year saga that perfectly illustrates how difficult meaningful change can be. The Women’s Reservation Bill was first introduced in 1996. It was blocked, shelved, reintroduced, debated endlessly, and finally—finally—passed in September 2023 as the 128th Constitutional Amendment. The journey from 1996 to 2023 tells us as much about Indian politics as the bill itself.