Sonia Gandhi To Be Lead Congress Speaker To Discuss Women's Reservation Bill

Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is likely to be the lead speaker from her party when the Lok Sabha will take 'Women's Reservation Bill' for discussion on Wednesday.

The Women's Reservation Bill that seeks to provide a 33 per cent quota for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday and will be taken up for discussion on Wednesday.

Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said "What about it? It's ours. Apna hain," while reacting to the bill that was passed on Tuesday. She made these remarks while entering the Parliament for a historic joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the newly inaugurated Parliament building.

According to sources, the Union Cabinet on Monday cleared the Women's Reservation Bill, which seeks to reserve a 33 per cent quota in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Referring to the issue, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, "We want the Women's Reservation Bill to be brought and passed as soon as possible. The demand for the Women's Reservation Bill was initiated by UPA and our leader Sonia Gandhi. It took so long, but we will be happy if this is introduced."

Earlier on Monday, the Congress General Secretary in charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh asserted that the party has been demanding the implementation of the bill for a long time.

He further said that the allocation of reserved seats shall be determined by such authority as prescribed by Parliament.

One-third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes shall be reserved for women of those groups in the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies. Reservation of seats for women shall cease to exist 15 years after the commencement of this Amendment Act.