Parliament passes Women’s Reservation Bill
Parliament has passed the Women’s Reservation Bill, officially called Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. The bill amends the Constitution to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha (House of the People) for women. There are reservations within the reservation for scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs), as per their percentage in the population.
The bill, which will become an act once the President gives her seal of approval, amends the Constitution of India for the 128th time, and hence is also called The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023.
The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with only the two MPs from AIMIM reportedly opposing it. There was no opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, the last day of the special Parliament session.
In the Lok Sabha, it was 454 for and two against while in the Council of States, it was supported by all the 214 members present. It was 11.30 pm when the bill was declared as passed.
According to reports, Asaduddin Owaisi and Imtiaz Jaleel might have voted against the bill as AIMIM opposed the bill, with Owaisi claiming during his argument that it would only facilitate participation of savarna women.
An earlier version of the Women’s Reservation Bill, known as The Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008 was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 but lapsed as it could not be passed in the Lok Sabha before the House was dissolved after the end of its term in 2014.
A crucial difference between the two versions is that the current one envisages the introduction of the reservation only after the next census and the proposed delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies (which has to be based on the population) after it.
