Source: PRS
Subject: Important Government act and Bills
Context: The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 was introduced in the Lok Sabha alongside major constitutional amendments to facilitate the expansion of Parliament.
About The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026:
What it is?
- This Bill is a supplementary piece of legislation designed to extend the provisions of the 131st Constitutional Amendment and the Delimitation Bill, 2026 specifically to the Union Territories (UTs) with legislative assemblies. It ensures that the legal changes regarding seat increases and women’s reservation are uniformly applied to the UTs of Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu & Kashmir.
Aim:
- To enable the one-third reservation for women in the Legislative Assemblies of specific Union Territories.
- To facilitate the redrawing of assembly constituencies (delimitation) within these UTs based on the 2011 Census.
- To ensure that the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is implemented at the UT level without waiting for the results of the 2027 Census.
Key Features:
- Application to Specific UTs: The Bill primarily modifies laws governing the Legislative Assemblies of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu & Kashmir.
- Delinking from 2027 Census: Similar to the national Bill, it removes the requirement that women’s reservation must wait for the first census after 2023. Instead, it allows for reservation based on the delimitation conducted using the latest published census (2011).
- Alignment with 131st Amendment: It ensures that the increase in the maximum number of UT representatives in the Lok Sabha (from 20 to 35 members) is legally integrated into the UT-specific statutes.
- Synchronized Delimitation: It mandates that the Delimitation Commission constituted under the Delimitation Bill, 2026, will have the authority to redraw assembly seats in these UTs.
- Rotational Reservation: Provisions are included to ensure that seats reserved for women in UT assemblies are allotted by rotation to different constituencies across successive elections.
Significance:
- It prevents a legal discrepancy where states might have implemented women’s reservation while UTs remained stuck in the old census-linked timeline.
- By enabling reservation based on the 2011 census, it makes it possible for women to contest reserved seats in the 2029 elections in Delhi and other UTs.
