Debate on Women's Reservation Bill today, Sonia Gandhi to lead Congress in Lok Sabha

Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is likely to open the debate in the Lok Sabha today on the Women's Reservation Bill, which was tabled on Tuesday during the ongoing special session of Parliament.  

Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi will lead the debate on the Women’s Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha. The bill, which aims to allocate a 33 per cent quota for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday during the ongoing special session of Parliament.

Sonia Gandhi said, "It is ours, 'apna hai,'" to a question about the government introducing the Bill in the Lok Sabha earlier. She made the remarks when she arrived in Parliament on Tuesday morning.

Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal presented the bill, named ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, during the first Lok Sabha session in the new Parliament building. The bill was introduced on the second day of the special session of Parliament, which started on Monday.

On Wednesday (September 20), the third day of the five-day special session of Parliament, the bill will be discussed. The UPA administration introduced it for the first time in the Rajya Sabha in 2008, and it was approved in 2010, but it was never brought up in the Lok Sabha.

The Women's Reservation Bill aims to allocate 33 per cent of seats in both the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies to women. Furthermore, it stipulates that one-third of the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be earmarked for women from these communities. The allocation of these reserved seats may be rotated among various constituencies within the state or union territory.