Bhopal:

The bill to give women 33 per cent reservation in parliament and state assemblies was passed by the Lok Sabha today. Once it becomes law, it would hugely change the situation of Madhya Pradesh assembly.

Women comprise less than 10 per cent of the assembly’s 230 members at the moment. Only 21 women were elected to the 230-member legislature in the last assembly election. Of them, 11 were from the BJP, 10 from the Congress, and one from the Bahujan Samaj Party.

In contrast, the state has 2.67 crore women voters – which is 48.36 per cent of the total 5.52 crore voters.

If the bill is passed, 76 women MLAs would sit in the Madhya Pradesh assembly.

In the last three assembly elections, the BJP has fielded 10 per cent women candidates, the Congress 12 per cent.

In 2008, BJP gave assembly tickets to 23 women, of whom 15 got elected. In 2013, 23 women got tickets, 17 won. But in 2018, only 11 of 24 women were elected.

The Congress gave tickets to 28 women in 2008, of whom six won. In 2013, only six of 23 women candidates won. In 2018, party gave tickets to 28 women, nine made it to the assembly.

The BJP and the Congress are both backing the women’s reservation bill and competing to take credit for it.

Senior Congress leader Shobha Ojha said the BJP had said in its 2014 manifesto that they would implement the Women’s Reservation Bill but it took them nine years to do so.

“Now they are bringing this bill because of the elections. They know voters are angry because of inflation, corruption. I want to thank late Rajiv Gandhi ji for this bill, because this was his idea,” she said.

Senior BJP leader and former minister Alka Jain gave all the credit to former Prime Minister and party icon Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Even during his tenure at the top job, efforts were made regarding the Women’s Reservation Bill but it was not successful. There are four assembly constituencies in Katni, but there is no woman MLA, she said.

New Delhi:
The historic bill providing 33 per cent reservation to women in parliament and state assemblies was passed in the Lok Sabha today after hours of fierce debate. This is the first time the bill was introduced and passed in the lower house.

Here are the Top 10 points in this big story:

New Delhi:

Reports of the Women’s Reservation Bill being cleared by the Union cabinet has been welcomed by the Congress, which had started the initiative to increase the space for women in parliament. Today the party’s communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh not only posted a history of the bill on X, formerly Twitter, he also re-posted a 2018 letter from Rahul Gandhi to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which is now being widely circulated.

The UPA government had drafted the bill in 2008, but it was on freeze after being passed by the Upper House two year later. Though the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, there was hurdles in the form of opposition by other parties and demands for quota for backward classes within the women’s quota.

Mr Gandhi’s tweet, dated July 16, 2018, read: “Our PM says he’s a crusader for women’s empowerment? Time for him to rise above party politics, walk-his-talk & have the Women’s Reservation Bill passed by Parliament. The Congress offers him its unconditional support.”

In the letter, he pointed out that the bill was passed in the Upper House with BJP support and was called “historic and momentous” by late Union minister Arun Jaitley, who was then the leader of the Opposition. “On the issue of empowering women, let us stand together, rise above party politics and send India a message that we believe the time for change has come,” he had added.

Our PM says he’s a crusader for women’s empowerment? Time for him to rise above party politics, walk-his-talk & have the Women’s Reservation Bill passed by Parliament. The Congress offers him its unconditional support.

Attached is my letter to the PM. #MahilaAakroshpic.twitter.com/IretXFFvvK

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 16, 2018

Ahead of the Parliament session, there was a huge buzz about the government backing the bill, and leaders from the Opposition pushing for women’s reservation.

The matter was also raised during Day One’s proceedings for the Special session.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking at the discussion on ‘Parliamentary Journey of 75 years Starting from Samvidhan Sabha – Achievements, Experiences, Memories And Learnings”, pointed to the skewed gender ratio among elected representatives, saying parliament has only 14 per cent women, and their number in legislative assemblies is just 10 per cent.

Later in the evening, Mr Ramesh posted on X, formerly Twitter: “It’s been a long-standing demand of the Congress party to implement women’s reservation. We welcome the reported decision of the Union Cabinet and await the details of the Bill. This could have very well been discussed in the all-party meeting before the Special Session, and consensus could have been built instead of operating under a veil of secrecy”.

The government had made no announcement about its discussions at this evening’s cabinet meeting. It even skipped the traditional media briefing after the meet, pushing up the suspense quotient. Later, sources said the women’s quota bill has been given a go-ahead from the cabinet.