NEW DELHI: (PTI) Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi on Tuesday alleged that the Women’s Reservation Bill is a bill to befool women ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, reviving a bill pending for 27 years for want of consensus among parties.
Addressing a press conference, Atishi alleged that the BJP is not interested in the wellbeing and welfare of women. “A closer reading of the provisions of the bill shows that it is ‘Mahila Bewakoof Banao’ bill,” she said.
According to the bill, the reservation will come into effect after a delimitation exercise is undertaken and will continue for 15 years. Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise.
“Why have the provisions of delimitation and census been included? This means that women reservation won’t be implemented ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” said Atishi, a minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi.
“We demand that the provisions of delimitation and census be done away with and the women’s reservation be implemented for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Atishi had told PTI Video that if such a bill comes, the AAP will welcome it, but underlined that the party would have to study its specifics.
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“The AAP supports women’s reservation in-principle. If such a bill comes, we will welcome it. No Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha member of the party has got a copy of the bill, and so its specifics and what impact it will have need to be studied,” the AAP leader had said.
Making it the first bill to be introduced in the new Parliament building, the government said it will enable greater participation of women in policy-making at the state and national levels and help achieve the goal of making India a developed country by 2047. The bill has been named ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’.
Atishi, who holds the portfolio of women and child development, had said there is already reservation at the panchayat and municipality levels “but there has been no change in the lives of common women because of this”.
“Our request to the government will be to move beyond providing reservation just to elected representatives. We want that there should be 50 per cent reservation in all government jobs for women,” she had told PTI Video.
The AAP leader had said that it is not sufficient just to “provide reservation in Parliament, Vidhan Sabha, municipality and panchayat”.
AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha demanded immediate implementation of reservation for women.
Targeting the central government, he posted on X, “We will bring women reservation but won’t reveal the date. As per Clause 5 of the #WomenReservationBill, the reservation will kick in only AFTER a delimitation exercise and a fresh census – post the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Eighth Amendment) Act, 2023.”
“Does this imply: 1 No women reservation for the 2024 Elections 2 The nation and the women will have to wait for fresh Census and delimitation for women reservation 3 The BILL has been framed without the WILL to execute it We demand immediate implementation of #WomenReservation without further delay,” he said.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, was introduced in the Lower House.
