The bill grants 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies
Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Women’s Reservation Bill. The bill grants 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies, news agency ANI reported. 454 MPs voted in favour of the bill whereas only two were against it.
Lok Sabha passes Women’s Reservation Bill granting 33% seats to women in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies
454 MPs vote in favour of the bill, 2 MPs vote against it pic.twitter.com/NTJz449MRX
— ANI (@ANI) September 20, 2023
The constitutional amendment bill, which provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The bill also provides for similar reservation within seats reserved for scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) candidates. The reservation will continue for 15 years and seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise, according to the bill.
The bill, named Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, will come into effect only after a delimitation exercise of Lok Sabha constituencies is completed. The delimitation exercise will be carried out after the completion of the next population census. Therefore, the bill is unlikely to be in force during the next Lok Sabha election in 2024.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that a census will be carried out to implement the legislation right after the elections. He also said that the government will carry out a delimitation exercise soon after the Lok Sabha elections. The current allotment of seats for states is loosely based on the 1971 Census.
Questioning those who are against the process and timing, Shah said: “1/3rd seats are to be reserved for women MPs, so who will decide those seats? The question is of transparency. No one should take sides.” He also said this was not the first time that the women’s reservation bill was brought.
“This is the fifth attempt to bring the Women’s quota bill. From Devegowda ji to Manmohan Singh ji, four attempts were made to bring this bill…what was the reason this bill was not passed?” he asked.
Meanwhile, earlier on Wednesday, Congress leader said in Lok Sabha that the Women’s Reservation Bill is a “big step” in transfer of power to a section of people in India and pushed for a separate quota for those belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the legislation.
The Congress leader also said that there is no need to wait for the census and delimitation exercise as specified in the bill. “One thing makes this women’s reservation bill incomplete. I would like to have seen the OBC reservation included,” Rahul Gandhi said.