india

Updated: Dec 09, 2018 17:20 IST

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has written to states where his party is in power alone or in alliance, to pass a resolution in the next session of the assembly to reserve one-third of the seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women.

In a letter to Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, he pointed out that during his interactions, women had shown remarkable resilience and commitment to public service and had besides being effective leaders, had challenged traditional gender roles.

“India ranks 148th out of 193 countries in terms of the percentage of women in Parliament,” he said, adding that the situation was worse in assemblies and noted that inadequate representation of women in our polity undermines the democracy and perpetuates existing systemic injustices.

The women’s reservation bill, which envisions to reserve 33% of all seats in Parliament and assemblies for women, was introduced in Parliament in 2008 and passed in Rajya Sabha in 2010. However, the Lok Sabha never voted for the bill and it lapsed after the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in 2014.

So far, only Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have passed bills for women’s reservation in assemblies.

Asking the state to pass the women’s reservation bill, he said Congress and other parties had urged the Narendra Modi government to ensure passage of the bill, and pledged support to it.

Apart from Punjab, Congress is in power in Mizoram and Puducherry, and in Karnataka in alliance with the JD(S). The new rulers of Mizoram will be declared on December 11 following the November 28 elections there.

Gandhi’s letter comes a day ahead of the meeting of opposition parties called by Congress on December 10, where it is planning to boost the anti-BJP front.