Women Reservation Bill (Nari Shakti Vandan Act Bill) was passed on Wednesday (September 20) after discussion in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament.
454 votes were cast in its favor and 2 against it. It will be presented in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday (September 21).
On behalf of the Central Government, many BJP MPs including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and Union Minister Smriti Irani presented their side.
At the same time, MPs from other opposition parties including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi raised many questions to the government while supporting the Nari Shakti Vandan Act Bill.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that the upcoming Lok Sabha Election Census and delimitation proceedings will be completed immediately after. The law related to one-third reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies will take shape very soon.
On the apprehensions of the opposition members that if the law related to women’s reservation is implemented after the census and delimitation in the country, it will take many years to materialize, Amit Shah said that the Delimitation Commission is a part of the quasi-judicial process headed by the Supreme Court. It consists of representatives of the Election Commission and one member each from all the parties.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi supported the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, but said that there should be a provision for separate reservation for women from Other Backward Classes (OBC).
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in the House, “In my view, one thing (no OBC quota) makes this bill incomplete.” I wish that OBC reservation should have been included in this bill. It is very important that a large section of India’s population, a large section of women, should have access to reservation. This is not what is in this bill”
Union Minister Smriti Irani targeted Congress Parliamentary Party leader Sonia Gandhi’s claim of calling the Women’s Reservation Bill as her own bill. Without naming the former Congress president, he said that it was said in the House that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had introduced the bill in 2010.
She sarcastically said, “Success has many leaders, but failure has no one to take its name. Therefore, when the bill was brought, some people called it their bill.”
