Lok Sabha passes Women's Reservation Bill with 454-2 majority

After a day-long debate in the lower house, the government was able to secure a comfortable two-thirds majority needed to pass the bill with 454 MPs voting in favour, while two MPs opposed its passage. The government intends to see through the Bill’s passage in this session with the Rajya Sabha setting aside over seven hours to discuss the same on Thursday.

The Women’s Reservation Bill passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday as a broad consensus emerged among all major parties that it’s an idea whose time has finally come.

But the day-long discussion on the 128th Constitutional Amendment Bill - as it is formally known - was not shorn of some sharp exchanges between the Opposition and treasury benches, as parties jostled to seek political mileage. The Congress and some of the I.N.D.I.A allies also demanded a quota within the quota for the OBCs, along with the immediate implementation of the bill. Rahul Gandhi said the bill was incomplete without making provisions for OBC women.

Responding on behalf of the government, Union Home Minister Amit Shah trained his guns on Rahul Gandhi. “The problem is their roots are not in India; I don’t want to say where they are,” Shah said. “Those claiming to speak for the OBCs should know that it is the BJP that gave an OBC Prime Minister to this country. 85 BJP MPs and 29 ministers are OBCs,” the Home Minister said, rebutting Gandhi's allegations.

Explaining reasons behind the deferred implementation of the bill, Shah said the delimitation commission may have to identify the seats which are to be reserved for women.

"If we are reserving one-third seats, then who will do it? If we do it, you will question it... If we reserve Wayanad or Hyderabad, you will say it is political," the Home Minister said.

After a day-long debate in the lower house, the government was able to secure a comfortable two-thirds majority needed to pass the bill with 454 MPs voting in favour, while two MPs opposed its passage. Prime minister Narendra Modi was in the House when the voting took place. The government intends to see through the Bill’s passage in this session with the Rajya Sabha setting aside over seven hours to discuss the same on Thursday.

Despite their reservations on the OBC quota and the time of implementation, the Opposition parties, including the Mandal parties such as Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (United), voted in favour of the Bill.

The proceedings of the house began with Union Law Minister Arjun Meghwal moving the bill for passage after the house convened in the morning. Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi set the tone for the day-long debate by extending support on behalf of the main opposition party.

“This is a very poignant moment of my life,” Sonia said, recalling her late husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s efforts to reserve seats for women in local bodies and panchayats.

When BJP’s lead speaker Nishikant Dubey rose to address the House, the Opposition questioned why a woman member was not asked to speak first. “The two women who spoke in favour of the women reservation Bill the most were Bengal’s Geeta Mukherjee and BJP’s Sushma Swaraj. We would not see this date without them. But Sonia ji did not mention them. What kind of politics is this,” Dubey asked.

DMK leader Kanimozhi alleged that she was heckled by BJP MPs as she rose to speak. She added that while this is one of the rare legislations which will garner support across the floor, the government was politicking and did not carry out any consultation on the Bill.

“You can do demonetisation in hours, pass the GST, why can’t you implement women's reservation in the next election (sic),” Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal sought to know from the government.

Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel said that only 14 per cent of the members in the Rajya Sabha are women, while in the Lok Sabha, it was 11 per cent, adding that India ranks 149 globally on the issue of gender parity in representation. “It is necessary to bring in women in decision-making and top positions,” the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry said.

TMC’s Mahua Moitra called the Bill a 'women’s reservation rescheduling bill' and asked the government to name it thus.

Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said that the women elected in Panchayats, assemblies, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are not counted in international rankings and the Modi government had written to the World Economic Forum. “There are questions as to why there are no reservations for Muslims and OBCs. They probably don’t know that a religion-based quota is not permitted by the Constitution,” Irani added.

Responding to the Opposition’s question on why the Bill’s implementation was contingent upon the decennial census and the subsequent delimitation slated for 2029, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said that it is a technical query through which the Opposition wants to stall its passage. “Section 8 and 9 of the Delimitation Act clearly mentions the distribution of seats, and Article 82 states that realignment is part of the delimitation process,” he said.

He also cautioned that the Bill will also fall foul of a Rajasthan High Court ruling which states that women's reservation is both vertical and horizontal. "If we remove the delimitation clause, you will file a PIL in the Supreme Court against the Bill," he said.