BJD to have 33% quota for women in allocation of LS seats: Naveen Patnaik
Kendrapara, Mar 10: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday announced 33% quota for women in allocation of Lok Sabha seats for the BJD party.
Naveen Patnaik made this big announcement during the Mission Shakti convention in Kendrapara.
"I am delighted to be in Kendrapara today. Here, I have announced a 33 percent reservation for women in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections." Assembly elections will also be held in Odisha along with the parliamentary polls. The term of the Odisha Assembly will expire on June 1
This means BJD will field women in 7 of 21 LS seats.
Countdown for 2019 polls begins as EC set to announce dates at 5 pm today
In 1992, Patnaik's father and former chief minister, Biju Patnaik, had brought women to the realm of political decision-making by providing 33-per-cent reservation for them in local bodies.
Thirty-three per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha is a long-standing demand that hasn't been implemented due to the lack of political will.
The Women's Reservation Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010 but the Lower House never voted on it. This meant that the bill lapsed after the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014.
Phase | Dates | States | Total |
First phase | April 11 | Andhra (25), Arunachal (2), Assam (5), Bihar (4), Chhattisgarh (1), J&K (2), Maharashtra (7), Manipur (1), Meghalaya (2), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Odisha (4), Sikkim (1), Telangana (17), Tripura (1), UP (8), Uttarakhand (5), West Bengal (2), Andaman (1), Lakshadweep (1) | 91 |
Second phase | April 18 | Assam (5), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (3), J&K (2), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (10), Manipur (1), Odisha (5), Tamil Nadu (39), Tripura (1), UP (8), West Bengal (3), Puducherry (1) | 97 |
Third phase | April 23 | Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Gujarat (26), Goa (2), J&K (1), Karnataka (14), Kerala (20), Maharashtra (14), Odisha (6), UP (10), West Bengal (5), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1), Daman and Diu (1) | 115 |
Fourth phase | April 29 | Bihar (5), J&K (1), Jharkhand (3), MP (6), Maharashtra (17), Odisha (6), Rajasthan (14), UP (13), West Bengal (8) | 71 |
Fifth phase | May 6 | Bihar (5), J&K (2), Jharkhand (4), MP (7), Rajasthan (12), UP (14), West Bengal (7) | 51 |
Sixth phase | May 12 | Bihar (8), Haryana (10), Jharkhand (4), MP (8), UP (14), West Bengal (8), Delhi-NCR (7) | 59 |
Seventh phase | May 19 | Bihar (8), Jharkhand (3), MP (8), Punjab (13), West Bengal (9), Chandigarh (1), UP (13), Himachal (4) | 59 |
Counting on May 23 |