Parliament passes women's quota Bill, all 215 RS members support it

New Delhi, September 21

Parliament on Thursday passed the 128th Constitutional Amendment Bill-2023 with the Rajya Sabha clearing it unanimously. Yesterday, the Lok Sabha had passed the Bill.

The Bill provides for reservation of one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies for women.

All 215 members of the Rajya Sabha voted in the favour of the Bill.

Amendments to the Bill proposed by Congress, Left, RJD and SP members demanding the introduction of the OBC quota in the 33 per-cent seats reserved for women were turned down by voice-vote.

Shortly before the Bill was put to vote, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the Rajya Sabha and urged the members to pass it unanimously. Noting that all those members who had participated in the debate had already expressed their support for the Bill, Modi said he would like to compliment the members and would also like to express his gratitude to them.

The PM said political empowerment of women would be a “guarantee for the bright future of the country”.

Earlier, in his reply to the debate, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said 72 members took part in the debate on the Bill today. He thanked all those who participated in the debate.

Responding to the Opposition’s charge that the deadline for the implementation of the 33 per cent quota for women in the Lok Sabha, state Assembles and Delhi Assembly had been deliberately kept vague by the government, Sitharaman said delimitation of the constituencies was a prerequisite for the implementation of the law.