Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008

The Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008 was a landmark legislative proposal that sought to amend the Indian Constitution to guarantee women a one‑third share of elected seats in the Lok Sabha and in every state legislative assembly. By earmarking 181 additional seats for women in the lower house—raising its strength from 543 to 724—the bill aimed to translate the principle of gender parity into a concrete, enforceable quota, a move that remains unique in the annals of Indian constitutional reform.

Origins and Historical Background

The demand for women’s reservation in elected bodies can be traced to the early post‑independence period, when the Constitution’s framers debated gender‑based quotas but ultimately settled for indirect measures such as the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The first explicit call for a women’s quota emerged in the 1990s, notably through the 1996 Women’s Reservation Bill introduced by the Janata Dal (Secular). After several stalled attempts, the United Progressive Alliance government, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, revived the proposal in 2008. On 19 December 2008, Law Minister H. R. Bhardwaj introduced the Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha, marking the most comprehensive attempt to embed gender reservation in the Constitution.

Key Provisions

The bill proposed amendments to Articles 81, 82, 170, 171, 332, 333 and 334, which govern the composition of Parliament and state legislatures. Its core provisions were:

• •Reservation Ratio – One‑third of the total seats in the Lok Sabha and each state assembly would be reserved for women, calculated on the basis of the existing strength of each house.
• •Additional Seats – To achieve the 33 % quota without displacing elected members, the bill added 181 seats for women in the Lok Sabha, increasing the total to 724. Corresponding increases were prescribed for state assemblies, varying by the size of each legislature.
• •Rotation Mechanism – Reserved seats would rotate every general election, ensuring that the same constituencies would not remain permanently earmarked for women.
• •Eligibility and Election – Only women candidates could contest the reserved seats, while the electoral process, voting method and term length would remain unchanged.

Mechanism and Implementation

The bill envisioned a two‑step implementation. First, the Election Commission of India would delineate the new constituencies for the additional seats, using the latest census data (2001 at the time) to maintain population parity. Second, a schedule of rotation would be published before each general election, designating which constituencies would be reserved for women in that cycle. The amendment also mandated that the President issue a notification to bring the provisions into force within six months of the bill’s passage, thereby synchronising the expansion with the next electoral calendar.

Current Status and Legislative Journey

After its introduction, the bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice, which submitted a report in August 2009 recommending its passage. However, the 15th Lok Sabha was dissolved on 18 May 2009, and the bill lapsed with the dissolution of the house. Subsequent attempts to revive the amendment—most notably the Constitution (One Hundred and Ninth Amendment) Bill in 2010 and the Women’s Reservation Bill of 2019—have similarly failed to secure the requisite majority. As of 2026, no constitutional amendment has been enacted to reserve seats for women, and the Lok Sabha and state assemblies continue to operate without a gender quota.

Significance and Legacy

Although the 108th Amendment Bill never became law, it reshaped the national discourse on gender equity in politics. The proposal quantified the gap between women’s representation (approximately 14 % in the Lok Sabha as of 2008) and the targeted 33 % threshold, providing a concrete legislative blueprint. It also sparked scholarly debate on the merits of reserved seats versus alternative measures such as party‑mandated candidate quotas. Internationally, the bill placed India among a small group of democracies—such as Rwanda and Bolivia—that have constitutionally mandated gender quotas, highlighting both the ambition and the political challenges of institutionalising parity. The 108th Amendment remains a reference point for activists, legislators, and scholars advocating for a more gender‑balanced polity.