The Women's reservation Bill passed with bi-partisan support

The Women's Reservation Bill passed

On September 20, the Lok Sabha passed a Bill to amend the Constitution and grant one-third reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies with nearly unanimous support, 27 years after the Women's Reservation Bill was first presented in Parliament.

The Rajya Sabha will now consider the Bill for passage during the final two days of the Special Session of Parliament, which may require support from fifty per cent of the States.

What is the Women's Reservation Bill

According to the Constitution 108th Amendment Bill, 2008, women should be given a third (33%) of the seats in state legislative assemblies and the Parliament. Within the 33% quota, the law suggests sub-reservation for SCs, STs, and Anglo-Indians. Different state or union territory constituencies may allot reserved seats through a rotational allocation process. According to the bill, 15 years from the initiation of the amendment act, the reservation of seats for women would terminate.

PM Modi thanked LS Members

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the Lok Sabha members on X (formerly, Twitter), calling it a "historic legislation" that will let more women participate in politics.

“I thank MPs across Party lines who voted in support of this Bill,” Mr Modi said in a post on X.

Only two against

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth) Bill 2023 easily met the constitutional requirements of a "two-thirds majority of the members present and voting" with support from 454 Lok Sabha members.

Only two members, Asaduddin Owaisi and Syed Imtiyaz Jaleel of the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen, had opposed the Bill.

PM Modi was present during the voting procedure, which took place manually using paper slips and lasted close to two hours.

However, the quota won't be in effect until 2029 since it needs to be put into place after the delimitation of constituencies, which won't happen until the subsequent census, which is most likely to take place after the general elections in 2024.