VIJAYAWADA: Extending his party’s support to the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy emphasised that women need not get only 33% reservation, rather conscious efforts should be made to elevate it and provide as many opportunities to women as we can.
Speaking on debate for the passage of the Bill in the Upper House, he highlighted how Andhra Pradesh has fared exceptionally well in providing reservation to women in the political sphere. The State has exceeded the 33% quota and is providing more than 50% to women in local bodies.
“The 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution mandate the reservation of one-third of seats for women in Panchayats and municipalities. In AP, under the leadership of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, we have surpassed the limit in providing reservations to women. In AP, it is not 33%, it is not one-third, but more than 50%,” he said, and went on to add that 688 out of the total 1,356 nominated persons in the local bodies are women, which comes to 51%.
“Similarly, seven out of 13 Zilla Parishad chairpersons in the State are women, that makes for around 54% and 15 out of 26 vice-chairpersons are also women. That is 58%. A total of 18 out of 36 mayors and deputy mayors are women, which comes to 50%,” he explained.
Apart from these, 1,161 out of 2,124 municipal ward members are women (50%), 54% of MPTCs, 53% of Mandal Parishad presidents and 53% of ZPTC members are women. In addition to it, 53% of ward and village volunteers and 51% of officials in village and ward secretariats are also women, he highlighted.
“Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has already surpassed the bar in providing equitable representation to women. Thus, our conjecture is that women’s reservation could be even more than one-third. It could be even 50% as we have implemented in Andhra Pradesh,” he opined.