BRS lawmaker Kavitha writes to 47 parties to pass Women’s Reservation Bill
The move comes amid speculation that the Women’s Reservation Bill could be taken up during the upcoming special session of Parliament
Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) lawmaker K Kavitha on Tuesday made an appeal to 47 political parties, urging them to unite and pass the long-awaited Women’s Reservation Bill in the upcoming special session of Parliament.
The move came amid speculation that the Women’s Reservation Bill could be taken up during the special session of Parliament, scheduled to commence on September 18. Earlier on Monday, vice- president Jagdeep Dhankhar had said that the day is not far when women will get their due representation in Parliament through an amendment to the Constitution.
In her letter, Kavitha, the BRS MLC and daughter of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, called upon the parties to set aside political differences and prioritise the Women’s Reservation Bill, which seeks to reserve 33% of seats in the Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assemblies for women.
“The issue of representation of women in Parliament is of utmost importance and I request all political parties with folded hands to take up this issue and rise above political partisanship,” she said. HT has seen a copy of the letter.
“Women constitute approximately 50% of our population and play a pivotal role in every aspect of our society. Yet, when it comes to legislative representation in State Assemblies and in our Parliament, their presence remains woefully inadequate. This glaring disparity hampers our nation’s progress and undermines the principles of democracy upon which our great country is built,” she added.
Kavitha’s letter were sent to Bharatiya Janata Party chief JP Nadda, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, DMK’s MK Stalin, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge, YSRCP’s Jagan Mohan Reddy among others.
This is not the first time Kavitha has made a public appeal about the Bill. In March this year, Kavitha sat on a hunger strike in Delhi demanding the tabling and passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill.
On March 9, 2010, the UPA government led by the Congress passed the Women’s Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha with the support of the BJP, JDU and Left parties with a huge majority.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been batting for this Bill since a long time now and had even written to PM Modi on two occasions ensuring her party’s support for the Bill.
The Women reservation Bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha in 1996 as the 81st amendment.
