Women's reservation bill discussion: Sonia Gandhi to lead Congress' debate in house

Special Parliament Session Day 3: Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson, is scheduled to lead the party's debate on the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The NDA government on Tuesday tabled the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, reserving 33 per cent of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal.

The bill will be discussed tentatively for seven hours beginning at 11 am today. After the debate, the bill is likely to be passed in the House later today.

The list of speakers who will debate on behalf of the BJP includes Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, Bharti Pawar, Aparajit Sarangi, Sunita Duggal and Diya Kumari.

The UPA government, which was in power for 10 years, introduced the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha in 2008. The bill passed in 2010. However, the Bill never reached the Lok Sabha for consideration. The BJP had placed the bill as one of the key poll promises before the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

On Tuesday, Gandhi called the women’s reservation bill “ours” (Congress) hours after the Union Cabinet approved a proposed Constitution amendment to provide quota for women in parliament and state legislatures. 

Top points

> The NDA government has introduced the bill to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women.

> The Bill was introduced in Parliament on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling himself “the chosen one for empowering and strengthening women”.

> The reservation will be exercise for 15 years, starting from the commencement of the Act. The Parliament can extend it further.

> "The Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam will further strengthen our democracy. I congratulate mothers, sisters and daughters of the nation for Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam. I assure all mothers, sisters and daughters of the nation that we are committed to making this bill into a law," PM Modi said on Tuesday.

> But it is to be noted that the reservation of seats for women will take effect after a delimitation is done when the figures for the first census are published.

> Union Law minister Meghwal stated that the bill intends to empower women by reserving 33 per cent of seats in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. He also said that the number of seats for women in the Lok Sabha will increase to 181 once the bill is passed.

> The Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks to introduce three new articles and one new clause.

> The new 239AA clause states that one-third (33 per cent) of seats reserved for scheduled caste (SC) shall be reserved for women, one-third of total number of seats will be filled by direct elections shall be reserved for women and seats shall be reserved for women in the Delhi legislative assembly.

> Under the 330A section, reservation for women in Lok Sabha - 1/3rd of seats reserved for SCs and STs shall be reserved for women, 1/3rd of total seats to be filled by direct elections to the Lok Sabha shall be reserved for women.

> The new article 332A states reserved seats for women in every state Legislative Assembly, 1/3rd of seats reserved for SCs and STs shall be reserved for women, 1/3rd of total seats to be filled by direct elections to the LA shall be reserved for women.

Opposition's reaction

However, the Opposition including Congress said the Bill was a ‘jumla’ by the BJP government and added that it is a ‘huge betrayal’ of Indian women. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge evoked strong protest after he said most political parties do not give tickets to women from weaker sections.

Reacting to this, the BJP said Congress was never serious about the women's reservation bill. "Sadly, the opposition is unable to digest this. And, what is more shameful is that except tokenism, the Congress has never been serious about women's reservation," Union minister Amit Shah said.

Also read: ‘Suspicious intentions’: Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury says ‘secular’, ‘socialist’ words removed from the Preamble

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