Congress will take up women's bill: Sonia Gandhi

Regretting that fewer women get nominated, Sonia Gandhi said she will take up the women's reservation bill.

Regretting that fewer women got nominated in elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi Monday said this would not stop her from taking up a bill that seeks to reserve a third of all seats for women.

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"I am not happy at all with it (poor representation of women) and it will be my endeavour to ensure proper representation to women," Gandhi said after releasing the party manifesto here.

Gandhi said that "if elected, the Congress would pass the women's reservation bill," which seeks to provide 33 percent reservation to women in parliament and legislatures.

"I know that representation of Congress women (for the election) is inadequate. But there are certain compulsions and we could not fulfil the promise of 33 percent reservation to women in allotment of party tickets," she said.

The much-awaited women's bill, drafted during the tenure of the United Front government of Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda in 1996-97, could not be passed in parliament due to lack of consensus among political parties.