The Bill will be taken up for discussion today when the House meets at 11 am.
Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will lead the party's debate on the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha today. The government yesterday introduced the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, reserving 33% of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government introduced the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha in 2008, which it passed in 2010. However, the Bill never reached the Lok Sabha for consideration. The Bill was also one of the key poll promises the BJP had made in the run-up to both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday urged members of both houses of Parliament to pass the bill unanimously, asserting that it would further strengthen Indian democracy.
"The Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam will further strengthen our democracy. I congratulate mothers, sisters and daughters of the nation for Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam. I assure all mothers, sisters and daughters of the nation that we are committed to making this bill into a law," PM Modi said
The Bill will be taken up for discussion today when the House meets at 11 am.
The list of speakers who will debate on behalf of the BJP includes Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, Bharti Pawar, Aparajit Sarangi, Sunita Duggal and Diya Kumari.
The Opposition has termed the Bill as an 'election jumla' and raised questions over the lack of OBC reservation and implementation timeline. The Congress says Women's Reservation Bill will not come into effect until after a census and delimitation
The proposed law promises a 33% quota for women in parliament and state legislatures, but this may not come into force until 2029, NDTV has learned.
The women's quota can only be implemented after the first delimitation or redrawing of constituencies after the Bill becomes law, which is likely to happen in 2027, since constituency redrawing only occurs after the next census.
In the Lok Sabha today, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is expected to introduce the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023 which seeks to amend the Constitution to allow reservation in promotion for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in government jobs. Mr Meghwal will also move the Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023 to amend the Advocates Act, 1961.