Women’s quota Bill: Rahul Gandhi writes to party CMs, urges them to pass resolutions

Days after the Odisha Assembly unanimously passed a resolution seeking 33 per cent reservation for women in legislative assemblies and Parliament, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has written to chief ministers of states where his party is in power, urging them to pass resolutions calling on the Centre to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill.

The Congress is in power on its own in Punjab, Puducherry and Mizoram, and in alliance with the JD(S) in Karnataka.

Gandhi in his letter said women continue to be severely underrepresented in Parliament and state Assemblies.

“India ranks 148th out of 193 countries in terms of the percentage of women in our Parliament. The situation is even worse in our state assemblies. The lack of adequate representation of women in our polity undermines our democracy and perpetuates existing systemic injustices,” he wrote.

In his letter, Gandhi noted that the Rajya Sabha passed the 108th constitutional amendment bill in 2010, but it lapsed after the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014.

“The Congress and several parties have called on the Prime Minister to ensure the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill and pledged their support. While the opponents of the Bill have cast doubts on the ability of women to effect change, the leadership role taken on by women after the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments have proved the detractors wrong,” he said in his letter.

“In order to affirm our support to the passage of the Bill, it would be expedient for the state assembly to pass a resolution calling for the reservation of one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies for women, in the next session,” Gandhi added.