ANI
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Monday cleared the Women’s Reservation Bill, sources said on Monday.
Amid frenzied speculations within political circles since Monday morning and incessant demands from MPs across party lines, seeking passage of women’s reservation bill in Lok Sabha, the Union Cabinet is learned to have given its consent to the much-awaited legislation.
IANS reported that there was a likelihood that a few other key legislations might also have been reportedly cleared by the Union Cabinet.
ANI reported that Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel congratulated the government over this in a social media post but the post was later deleted.
“Only the Modi government had the moral courage to fulfill the demand for women’s reservation. Which was proved by the approval of the cabinet. Congratulations PM Narendra Modi and congratulations to the PM Modi government,” the deleted post read.
Congress General Secretary in charge of Communications took to X and said, “The Congress party has been demanding the implementation of women’s reservation for a long time. We welcome the Union Cabinet decision reportedly coming forward and look forward to the details of the Bill.”
“This could have been thoroughly discussed in the all-party meeting before the special session and a consensus could have been reached instead of behind-the-scenes politics,” he posted.
Recently many parties were demanding that the Women’s Reservation Bill be passed in the special session of Parliament.
Many opposition leaders had been questioning the real intent of the government in convening a special session of Parliament just a month after the monsoon session had ended.
As several government functionaries remained tight-lipped about the agenda of the cabinet meeting, unconfirmed reports claimed that the bill had been passed.
The Union Cabinet had met on Monday evening, and its meeting lasted for a couple of hours.
The bill ensures the reservation of 33 percent of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative Assemblies.
In May 2008, the women’s reservation bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha and was referred to a standing committee.
It was passed in the upper house in 2010 and then it was sent to Lok Sabha.
However, it could not be passed and lapsed with the 15th Lok Sabha.
Speculations had been rife since Monday morning about the bill, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the media outside Parliament before the commencement of the special session, had said that “the special session of Parliament might be a short one, but it holds great importance in terms of historical decisions”.
During the discussions on 75 years of Parliament earlier in the day, Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, NCP’s Supriya Sule, and many other lawmakers sought passage of the women’s reservation bill during the special session.
On Sunday, the Congress passed a resolution in the CWC meeting that the women’s reservation bill should be passed in the upcoming special session.
Meanwhile, prior to the cabinet meeting, a series of meetings took place among the BJP leaders. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi met Home Minister Amit Shah. BJP chief J P Nadda was also present in the meeting.
