The Congress party has once again called for a larger percentage of seats in the legislature to be reserved for women, one day before the start of the week-long special session of Parliament.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh stated that the Congress Working Committee urges that the Women’s Reservation Bill be passed during the special session of Parliament in a post on the social media platform X.
Jairam Ramesh praised the previous Congress administrations, citing former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s introduction of Constitution Amendment Bills for one-third reservation in panchayats and nagarpalikas in May 1989. These bills were successful in the Lok Sabha but were rejected by the Rajya Sabha.
“Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao reintroduced Constitution Amendment Bills for one-third reservation for women in panchayats and nagarpalikas in April 1993. Both Bills passed and became law. Now there are more than 15 lakh elected women representatives in panchayats and nagarpalikas,” he said.
For a third reservation for women in the Parliament and state legislatures, the former prime minister Manmohan Singh introduced the Constitution Amendment Bill. The Bill was approved by the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010, but the Lok Sabha did not take it up.
“Bills introduced/ passed in Rajya Sabha do not lapse. Women’s Reservation Bill is still very much active. The Congress party has for the past nine years been demanding that the Women’s Reservation Bill already passed by the Rajya Sabha should now get passed by the Lok Sabha as well,” Jairma Ramesh wrote on X.
As per the Parliamentary Bulletin, released on Wednesday, a discussion on “Parliamentary Journey of 75 years starting from Samvidhan Sabha – Achievements, Experiences, Memories and Learnings” will be held in Parliament on the first day of the five-sitting long special session starting tomorrow.