Govt proposes more seats for women’s quota

The UPA government’s proposal for increase in the number of seats in Parliament and assemblies by one-third to break the deadlock over ...

The UPA government’s proposal for increase in the number of seats in Parliament and assemblies by one-third to break the deadlock over the Women’s Reservation Bill has evoked mixed response. While the proposal has got BJP’s partial support has been rejected by the Left, the Samajwadi Party is non-committal.

In one-to-one talks with the parties — attended by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad — the government said given the rise in population, the number of seats needs to be increased. Reservation for women can be addressed alongside, the ministers said.

ministers told the parties.

While the BJP said it would ‘‘support any and every’’ move to reserve seats for women in Parliament and other legislative bodies but not ‘‘quota within quota (for SC/ST and backward classes)’’, the CPI and CPI-M refused to support any dilution of the 1996 Bill.

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“We will not stand in the way of consensus, but at the same cautioned the government against introducing quota within quota and also against using the proposal as a delaying tactic,’’ BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said.

However, the Left was far less accommodating. CPI(M) MP Basudev Acharia, who attended the meeting with Nilotpal Basu said, ‘‘We won’t accept dilution of the 1996 bill…Bring it in Parliament in its original form and let it be debated. The issue of reservation for women cannot be mixed up with delimitation.’’

CPI’s D. Raja said his party was against linking the issue with the number of seats.” ‘‘The Left will only support the original bill,’’ he said.

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