Parliament Special Session Live Updates: Congress MP Sonia Gandhi said, “Caste census should be conducted to ensure reservation for women from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs…”
Parliament Special Session Live Updates Today (September 20): Amid the debate in the Lok Sabha over the women’s reservation Bill, the Opposition parties stuck to their demand of a quota within a quota. Opening the debate for the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi extended the party’s support to the Bill, but added, a “caste census should be conducted to ensure reservation for women from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBC”. Weighing in on the debate, Rahul Gandhi also said that it is an “incomplete” Bill without reservation for OBC women. Amit Shah, too, addressed the House after Gandhi and defended the Bill saying that the “passage of women’s reservation bill will mark start of new era.”
The Opposition has criticised the clauses in the Bill according to which the quota will only be implemented after the delimitation exercise after a Census. Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal highlighted the delay in enforcing the women’s reservation Bill. Calling it a “jumla”, she said, “when it was known that the Women’s Reservation Bill was being brought, the hopes were built up till there only to be dashed in 24 hours because in the details lies the devil… The details have come out that the bill will be implemented after the census and delimitation take place.”
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TMC MP Mahua Moitra also asked why the Bill should wait for the government to “count numbers” and “draw lines”. Meanwhile, AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi opposed the Bill in the Lok Sabha, and called it an “exclusive” and “anti-Muslim women” legislation. NCP MP Supriya Sule stood in support of the Bill, on behalf of her party. However, she added, “why can’t we demand SC, STs, and OBCs quota… let’s make a Constitutional amendment”.
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Even if the Bill tabled on Tuesday is passed speedily by both Houses of Parliament, it may be a while before it can be implemented.
The Bill states: “Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provision of this Part or Part VIII, the provisions of the Constitution relating to the reservation of seats for women in the House of People, the Legislative Assembly of State, and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi shall come into effect after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken for this purpose after the relevant figures for the first census taken after the commencement of The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Amendment) Bill 2023 have been published, and shall cease to have effect on the expiration of a period of 15 years from the date of such commencement.”
The upshot of these conditions is that women’s reservation may not effectively be operationalised in Lok Sabha before the general elections of 2029. Read more
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First published on: 20-09-2023 at 07:44 IST
