Women reservation bill Highlights: Sonia Gandhi to be Congress main speaker in debate

Parliament special session LIVE: Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha MPs Tuesday assembled in Central Hall of old Parliament building to celebrate country's rich parliamentary legacy.

• At the Hall, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said “today onwards, our two Houses of the Parliament shall have sittings in the new Parliament building. We all know that this Central Hall has witnessed the transfer of power from Britain to Bharat...”

Parliament special session LIVE: Women's Reservation Bill will be introduced in the Lok Sabha today, by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal. Discussion for passing of the Bill in the House will be taken up tomorrow, 20th September. The Bill will be taken up in Rajya Sabha on 21st September, ANI reported citing sources.

Parliament special session LIVE: When asked about the Union cabinet's reported approval to women's reservation bill, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said “it's out, apna hai.” Gandhi's response referred to the bill having been passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010. 

The Women's Reservation Bill of 2010 had provision for 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

A day before, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had also echoed similar sentiments and said ""As PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh brought Constitution Amendment Bill for one-third reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures. Bill passed on March 9, 2010 in the Rajya Sabha. But it was not taken up in Lok Sabha."

He said Bills introduced/passed in Rajya Sabha do not lapse and the Women's Reservation Bill is still very much active.

Parliament special session LIVE: Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs gathered for a group photograph on Tuesday morning ahead of shifting the proceedings to the new Parliament complex.

Parliament special session LIVE: The parliamentarians on Tuesday - the opening day of the new Parliament building - are set to receive a special hamper as the five-day special session will resume. The kit will include a copy of the Constitution of India, a commemorative coin featuring the new Parliament, and a postage stamp.

Reports claimed that the gift bag will be distributed to the MPs after the Central Hall function where top leaders, including the former prime minister and senior-most Rajya Sabha member Manmohan Singh and former Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren, have been invited to speak to commemorate the country's rich parliamentary legacy.

Parliament special session LIVE: In the joint sitting, set to be held in the new Parliament building, BJP MP Maneka Gandhi, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shibu Soren and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will briefly speak for five minutes each, news agency ANI reported quoting sources.

Parliament special session LIVE: Members of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the ruling party in Telangana, held a protest near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the Parliament compound on Monday, demanding a Women's Reservation Bill. 

• The BRS members held up placards and raised slogans demanding that the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) table the Women's Reservation Bill in the ongoing Special Session of Parliament.
• Earlier, on Sunday, an all-party meeting was held in the national capital with various political parties demanding the passage of a Women's Reservation Bill in the five-day special session of Parliament.
• The special session of the Parliament started on Monday and will continue till Friday.

Parliament special session LIVE: A discussion on the parliamentary journey of 75 years starting from the constituent assembly will be held on the first day of the special session of the Parliament, according to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha bulletin issued on Wednesday. 

• The discussion will include achievements, experiences, memories and learnings in the 75 years of the parliamentary journey.
• The bulletin also listed tentative legislative business expected to be taken up during the upcoming session of the Parliament, including the controversial bill that seeks to exclude the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the panel to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs).
• The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023, The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023, The Post Office Bill, 2023, and The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 will be taken up during the upcoming session.

Parliament special session LIVE: The Congress has welcomed the Union Cabinet's move to clear the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill to introduce it during the ongoing special session of Parliament. 

• An old letter from Rahul Gandhi to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been widely circulated where the Congress MP wrote about giving ‘unconditional support’ to pass the Bill to provide legislative reservation to women.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a meeting of the union cabinet in Parliament House Annexe in the national capital.

The meeting was held in the evening after the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day. The two Houses will hold their sittings in the new Parliament building on Tuesday.

Both Houses were adjourned on Monday after a discussion on Parliamentary democracy in the last 75 years with the presiding officers stating that the proceedings will commence on Tuesday afternoon in the new Parliament building.

Parliament special session LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened a special session of Parliament on Monday with an emotive speech, for the one last time from the existing Parliament house, in which he paid rich tributes to the country’s democratic traditions and recalled contributions of all former prime ministers – Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Manmohan Singh – and said the colonial-era premises will remain a “source of inspiration” and “place of pilgrimage” for all times to come.