Women reservation bill in next session of Lok Sabha: Karat

Shimla, Aug 31 (UNI) The women reservation bill will be introduced in the next session of Parliament, senior CPM leader Brinda Karat said today.

''The bill, which provides from 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures, will be introduced in the Lok Sabha during the next session,'' she said at a press conference here.

Ms Karat said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured a party delegation that called on him recently that the bill would be introduced in Parliament in the next session.

She said the party was also for discussing Election Commission's role and jurisdiction following its five phase elections in West Bengal where the CPM returned to power for the record sixth time.

If the EC's functioning was leading to a low voter turnout and deletion of genuine voters, instead of strengthening the democratic process, its role should be discussed threadbare, she said.

Ms Karat said the party had also urged the Centre to increase the procurement price of milk being bought at Rs six per litre from Himachal farmers to offset their losses to the apple crop this year.

This would to an extent minimise their losses due to natural calamities, she added.

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