NEW DELHI: The highly-debated issue of 33 per cent reservation for women in legislative bodies received a shot in the arm on September 21 when Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to ensure the expeditious passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha.
In a letter addressed to the PM, Sonia requested him to “take advantage” of the BJP’s majority in the lower house of Parliament to get the 21-year-old bill passed.
“I am writing to request you to take advantage of your majority in the Lok Sabha to now get the women’s reservation bill passed in the Lower House as well,” Sonia wrote in the letter, dated September 20.
She also assured that her party, the Congress, would provide full support to the legislation, which she said would be a “significant” step forward in the empowerment of women.
The Women’s Reservation Bill, introduced by the Deve Gowda government on September 12, 1996, seeks one-third of seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies be reserved for women. It had been passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010 but could not be taken up for discussion in the lower house. The bill lapsed after the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014.
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