The one-day special session of the Madhya Pradesh assembly on Monday is set to witness a confrontation over women's reservation, with the state government and the opposition Congress taking sharply different positions on its implementation timeline.
Government's Resolution
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav is slated to move a resolution backing 33 percent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies, to be implemented after the delimitation exercise. According to the House agenda, the CM will move the resolution after obituary references. The resolution states that this House opines that for the overall development and empowerment of women, one-third reservation for women in Parliament and all state assemblies should be immediately implemented after completing the delimitation exercise.
Congress's Countermove
The Congress, however, plans to press for immediate enforcement, arguing that Parliament has already cleared the legislation. Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar is likely to move a private member's Bill demanding that 33 percent of the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats be earmarked for women immediately. We shall move a private member Bill under section 142 of the rules for proceedings of the House for immediate implementation of the Women's Reservation Bill, which has already been passed by both houses of Parliament, and giving 33 percent of the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats to women without delay, Singhar said.
Background
In Parliament, the Union government had introduced a constitutional amendment Bill earlier this month proposing 33 percent reservation for women, to be implemented after delimitation of seats based on the 2021 Census. The Congress is set to argue in the House on Monday that a similar legislation has already been passed and should be enforced without delay. Singhar added that when the state government has convened a special session to discuss women empowerment through reservation for women in legislative bodies, it should thoroughly discuss the issue rather than limiting the debate to censuring the opposition for something it had not done.
A meeting of the Congress legislative party will take place at Singhar's official residence on Monday before the party legislators leave for the state assembly to participate in the special session.
