Women's Reservation Bill: 18 political parties on dharna in Delhi today

New Delhi: About 18 political parties are set to stage a day-long hunger strike demanding introduction and passing of women's reservation bill in the current session of the Lok Sabha. Bharat Jagruti leaders said that about 6,000 people would be participating in the dharna. Two women ministers from Hyderabad -- Sabitha Indra Reddy and Satyabvathi Rathod -- also reached Delhi late on Thursday evening.

According to BRS leaders, the police initially tried to put roadblocks by not giving permission for the dharna at Jantar Mantar claiming that the BJP also wanted to hold a protest at the same place but later in the evening they gave necessary clearance and made all arrangements to provide security for the Friday hunger strike. The BJP decided to hold a counter-dharna near Andhra School at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg.

While in Hyderabad, the BRS leaders said the Congress had failed to take on the BJP and only BRS had the guts to do so. Kavitha praised Sonia Gandhi for pushing the bill during the UPA tenure. "She is a very big leader, I salute Madam Sonia Gandhi for having backed the women's reservation bill despite leading a coalition govt at the Centre," she said.

Kavitha said she has spoken to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary K C Venugopal to send a representative to the protest. She also urged President Draupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure the passage of the bill.

Journey of women's reservation bill

The women's reservation bill was initially introduced in Parliament on September 12, 1996. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by the United Front government of HD Deve Gowda.

The main aim of this bill is to reserve 33 percent seats in the Lok Sabha and all state legislative Assemblies for women.

RESERVATION CRITERIA

As per the bill, the seats will be reserved on a rotational basis. The seats would be determined by a draw of lots in such a way that a seat would only be reserved once in every three consecutive general elections.

The Vajpayee government pushed for the bill in the Lok Sabha but it still wasn't passed. The UPA-I government, led by the Congress, introduced the bill again to reserve seats for women in the Lok Sabha and legislative Assemblies in May 2008.

After its reintroduction, the bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010, but was still left pending in the Lok Sabha. Lalu Prasad-led RJD has been one of the vocal opponents for the bill, along with Samajwadi Party (SP). They had opposed this bill considering this as preferential treatment towards women of India.