The long-awaited Women’s Reservation Bill, after decades-long debate, was passed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, September 19, after the first session began in the New Parliament house.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the second day of the special Parliamentary session, announced that the Women’s Reservation Bill was given a nod in the key Union Cabinet meeting held on Monday.
The Bill that reserves 33 percent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies was introduced in the lower house by the minister of law and justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, and was passed by a voice vote.
The Bill will reportedly come into effect after a delimitation exercise with provisions for 1/3 quota for SC and ST candidates.
The Bill, which will be applicable for 15 years, had been tabled several times in the last 27 years but could not get passed.
It was last brought up in 2010 and was passed in the Rajya Sabha, but it could not be passed in the Lok Sabha. Meghwal claimed that a Bill passed by the Rajya Sabha, not considered by the Lok Sabha lapses.
However, the Opposition claimed otherwise.
Leader of Swaraj India, Yogendra Yadav citing the 108th amendment of the Constitution of India, stated that the Bill was Passed by the Rajya Sabha. “The govt has to simply pick this (since bills introduced in RS do not lapse) version below and pass it in the Lok Sabha,” Yadav Shared on X.
Opposition on Women’s Reservation Bill
Congress
The Congress on Tuesday termed as “election jumla” and “huge betrayal of hopes of women” the Women’s Reservation Bill brought by the government, noting the Centre has stated that the reservation will be effective only after a Census and delimitation exercise is conducted post-enactment of the bill.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh wondered whether the Census and delimitation will be done before the 2024 elections, pointing out that the Narendra Modi government has not yet conducted the 2021 decadal Census.
AIMIM
AIMIM chief and Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi said that his party is against the Women’s reservation bill as there is no quota for women from the Muslim, OBC communities in it.
“You are making a bill so that there is representation of the underrepresented. Until now, seventy Lok Sabha elections have taken place in this country. 8992 MPs have been elected until now, out of which, only 520 are Muslims. There is a deficit of over 50 percent. In that 520, not even a handful are women. So, who are you providing representation to? Those who need it should get it. A major flaw in this bill is that there is no quota for Muslim and OBC women. This is why we are against the bill,” he said, speaking to ANI.
Bahujan Samaj Party
BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday said her party will support any bill that allows reservation for women in Parliament and other legislatures, even if the party’s demand for a quota for the SC, ST and OBC within that quota is not met.
Her remarks to the media came on a day the Centre said it is introducing a bill in Parliament to provide one-third reservation to women in the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and the Delhi legislative assembly.
The Bahujan Samaj Party leader said her party wanted women from the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes to get a separate quota in the draft legislation.
