Women’s quota bill moves a step closer to reality

The reservation of one-third seats for women in Parliament and state legislatures took a step closer to reality on Thursday, reports HT Correspondent.

The reservation of one-third seats for women in Parliament and state legislatures took a step closer to reality on Thursday.

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A parliamentary panel has endorsed the Women’s Reservation Bill and suggested that seats be reserved on a rotational basis.

In its report presented in both Houses, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice recommended that the bill be passed in its present form at the earliest, and that it should not be left to the discretion of political parties.

Committee chairperson Jayanthi Natarajan hoped that the bill, which was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in May 2008, would be passed in the budget session next year.

The Samajwadi Party was the only party that gave its dissent note to the panel in writing. The PMK and the RJD also expressed reservations but did not submit a dissent note.

“The SP has suggested that reservation within reservation for OBC women, which should not be more than 20 per cent,” Natarajan said. The panel said the government should consider the matter and take action at an appropriate time.

The committee rejected the Election Commission’s ‘Gill Formula’ that called for making reservation for women mandatory for political parties. “Majority of the memoranda received by the committee rejected the Gill formula on the ground that it might lead to political parties giving seats to women, which they perceive are not winning seats, thereby negating actual representation of women in elected bodies,” it said.

Natarajan said reservation for women should be constitutionally mandated.

The panel was also of the view that once the reservation system for women was established, sitting male members who have nurtured the constituency would suffer “injustice” as they may have to vacate their seats if these were reserved.

“The committee felt an MP or an MLA should serve the constituency regardless of the fact that the seat is rotated between two members. Rotation of seats will be in the interest of democracy,” Natarajan said.

The panel rejected the concept of “double member constituencies”.