Sonia Gandhi to lead Congress in LS on Women's Reservation Bill

Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi will lead the debate on the Women’s Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha.

Sources said that Sonia Gandhi will lead the party on the long-awaited Bill and she will be the main speaker of the Congress for debate on it.

Earlier in the day, when asked about the government bringing the Bill in the Lok Sabha, Sonia Gandhi said, “It is ours, ‘apna hai’.

She made the remarks when she arrived in Parliament on Tuesday morning.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, was introduced in Lok Sabha in the supplementary list of business.

The Women’s Reservation Bill has proposed that the reservation would continue for a period of 15 years and there will be a quota for SC and STs within the reserved seats for women. The legislation however is unlikely to be implemented in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, sources said.

It will be rolled out only after the delimitation process is over, most probably in 2029, they added.

The reservation will come into effect after a delimitation exercise is undertaken and will continue for 15 years. Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise, according to the bill.

The government said women participate substantively in panchayats and municipal bodies, but their representation in State Assemblies, and Parliament is still limited.

Women bring different perspectives and enrich the quality of legislative debates and decision-making, it added.

The Congress has dubbed the Bill a poll jumla and also a betrayal of women and girls of the country.