With the Women's Reservation Bill expected to be introduced in both Houses of Parliament this afternoon, speculation is rife that a different version of the bill will be tabled in Lok Sabha. The Union Government is likely to withdraw the 2010 bill introduced during the UPA regime and replace it with a more radical version of the bill.
The bill introduced by the UPA sought a 33 per cent quota for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures, with one-third of seats allocated for SCs and STs to be reserved for women from those groups. The bill had been passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 but was not taken up by the Lok Sabha.
According to reports, the NDA government's new bill is likely to include reservations for the Rajya Sabha and legislative councils as well. The new bill is also speculated to include women's representation for OBC groups under its ambit, while the old bill had only covered the reservation for women belonging to SC and ST groups. The bill's contents will be clear only after the final draft is tabled in Parliament.
This comes after reports emerged that the Union Cabinet had reportedly approved the Women's Reservation Bill. While there was no official word on what transpired in the Cabinet meeting, which lasted for more than 90 minutes on Monday evening, speculations were rife that it approved the women's reservation bill.
Cutting across political lines, leaders have demanded the introduction of the women's reservation bill during the special session of Parliament.
With a bilateral consensus on women's representation in politics, any bill introduced on this issue is expected to pass both Houses comfortably, unlike the bill introduced in the PM Manmohan Singh regime — which faced opposition from UPA allies and some leaders within the Congress.
However, these changes are unlikely to be introduced for the upcoming general elections in 2024 and are anticipated to be implemented in 2029, only after the delimitation process is completed in 2026.
Currently, women represent only 15 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha, with 78 women out of 543 members, while the Rajya Sabha has approximately 14 per cent women representation.