On the sidelines of the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting being held on Sunday in Hyderabad, the Congress party has demanded that the Women’s Reservation Bill be passed in the upcoming special session of Parliament.
The CWC had already passed a resolution in this regard on the first day of the meeting. Senior Congress leaders and MPs, Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera, Chairman of Media at AICC, gave out details of the history of the Congress’ efforts to introduce the bill.
They informed that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi attempted to introduce the bill for one-third reservation for women in local elected bodies. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha but failed in the Rajya Sabha.
In 1993, the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao reintroduced the bill, and it was passed in both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, becoming an Act.
During the tenure of Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister, the Constitution Amendment Bill for one-third reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures was passed in 2010. The bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha but was not taken up in the Lok Sabha. Since bills introduced or passed in the Rajya Sabha do not lapse, the Congress argues that the Women’s Reservation Bill is still active and only needs to be passed in the Rajya Sabha.
Jairam Ramesh also tweeted that due to Congress successfully passing the bill for local elected bodies, there are 15 lakh elected women representatives in panchayats and Nagarpalikas.
BRS leader and MLC K. Kavitha has also been pushing for the bill and has written letters to the Presidents of various political parties to support it. The five-day special session of Parliament is all set to begin on Monday with a discussion on the 75-year journey of the Parliament.
