Call to BJP to pass women's reservation bill in Lok Sabha
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IBNS): Women lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha cutting across party lines have urged the BJP to use its strength in the Lok Sabha to pass the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lower House of Parliament.
The Rajya Sabha had passed the bill, introduced by the UPA government, in 2010.
The bill seeks to reserve 33 per cent seats in the Lok Sabha and all state Assemblies for women.
At present, around 10 per cent members of representatives both at the state and national level are women, said reports.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Jharna Das Baidya of the CPI-M said the BJP had not passed the bill in the Lok Sabha despite having the numbers.
Samajwadi Party's Jaya Bachchan said her party supported the bill but added: "We are for the reservation Bill but we have certain recommendations. The Women’s Reservation Bill in its present form will only benefit the rich and urban women and not the poor and rural women. A provision of sub-reservation for OBC women and Dalit women should be added to the Bill….The right to choose and decide the candidates and their seats should remain with the party and not the Election Commission…EC cannot have a say in this…the Bill in its present form is cosmetic.”
DMK's Kanimozhi said: "We make laws and amend laws and only men are making decisions for women….it is absolutely unfair.. because our voices are not heard, our viewpoints are not heard..how can you pass a Bill without voices of women being heard.”
Shanta Chhetri of the Trinamool Congress, which has the firebrand Mamata Banerjee as its chief, said her party had given one-third tickets to women candidates in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
What the Women's Reservation Bill in its current form seeks:
- One-third of all seats in Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies for women
- Allocation of reserved seats determined by an authority prescribed by Parliament
- One-third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes reserved for women of these groups
- Reserved allotted to different constituencies in the state or Union territory by rotation so that it is reserved only once in three consecutive general elections
- The 33 per cent reservation of seats for women would cease to exist 15 years after it comes into force
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