- September 20, 2023
Mayawati urges government to remove provisions that delay implementation of women reservation | India News – Times of India
LUCKNOW: A day after extending her support for the women’s reservation bill, BSP national president Mayawati on Wednesday said that the bill has a few provisions because of which women will not get reservation in lok sabha and state assemblies for many years to come. “At least for 15-16 years, women will not get reservation because of these provisions.”
The bill has not been introduced with an honest intent to give reservation to women but to corner their votes in the coming Lok Sabha and state assembly elections, said Mayawati. “And if it is not so, then our party requests the government to remove the two provisions or find out a way by which women may get reservation as soon as possible.”
She also reiterated her demand for a separate quota for women from SC and ST communities and not including them in the already existing 33% reservation for SCs and STs in the house and state assemblies but, at the same time, she clarified that she will support the bill even if these demands are not met.
The two provisions of the women’s reservation bill that she highlighted for causing delay in its implementation were about the census and the delimitation of the lok sabha and state assembly segments. The bill can come into effect only after the census is conducted and then the delimitation of every Lok Sabha and state assembly segment is done based on the census figures.
While the bill will get passed in the parliament, the census and delimitation of lok sabha and state assembly segments will take several years, said the former UP CM, adding that once the bill becomes an Act, it will have a term of only 15 years.
The provisions of the bill also say that once it becomes an Act, 33% of the total seats reserved for SCs and STs in the house and state assemblies will be set aside for women belonging to these communities. Mayawati has sought a separate quota for women from these communities and also the OBCs.
She also hit out at the Congress “for advocating a separate quota for women from SC, ST and OBC communities for their own political gains.”
The bill has not been introduced with an honest intent to give reservation to women but to corner their votes in the coming Lok Sabha and state assembly elections, said Mayawati. “And if it is not so, then our party requests the government to remove the two provisions or find out a way by which women may get reservation as soon as possible.”
She also reiterated her demand for a separate quota for women from SC and ST communities and not including them in the already existing 33% reservation for SCs and STs in the house and state assemblies but, at the same time, she clarified that she will support the bill even if these demands are not met.
The two provisions of the women’s reservation bill that she highlighted for causing delay in its implementation were about the census and the delimitation of the lok sabha and state assembly segments. The bill can come into effect only after the census is conducted and then the delimitation of every Lok Sabha and state assembly segment is done based on the census figures.
While the bill will get passed in the parliament, the census and delimitation of lok sabha and state assembly segments will take several years, said the former UP CM, adding that once the bill becomes an Act, it will have a term of only 15 years.
The provisions of the bill also say that once it becomes an Act, 33% of the total seats reserved for SCs and STs in the house and state assemblies will be set aside for women belonging to these communities. Mayawati has sought a separate quota for women from these communities and also the OBCs.
She also hit out at the Congress “for advocating a separate quota for women from SC, ST and OBC communities for their own political gains.”
