Goa will ratify Women Reservation Bill if Centre asks: CM Sawant
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Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said that his government has not received any urgent proposal to pass the ‘Women’s Reservation Bill’ at the state level, however, if direction comes then they will take steps.
"At present, we have not received any urgent proposal from the Centre, how it had come during passing of Goods and Services Tax (GST). In this case, there is a procedure of delimitation and others. We will pass the women's reservation bill (at the state level) in the next assembly session and then will send it to the Centre," Sawant told reporters here.
"If any proposal comes from the Centre to send it in urgency, then we will hold the session and send it after passing," Sawant said.
The Chief Minister had earlier expressed his support for the Women's Reservation Bill and said that 13 seats would be reserved in the Goa legislative assembly for women.
The Lok Sabha, in its new Parliament building, achieved an overwhelming majority vote in favour of the 128th Constitution Amendment Bill, also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
Also Read:Congress accuses BJP of using women's reservation for election issue
The landmark bill aims to provide one-third of the seats for women in both the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
However, Congress leaders have attacked the BJP government over the Women’s Reservation Bill and sought its immediate implementation.
AICC Social Media National Coordinator Bhavya Narasimhamurthy on Monday alleged that the BJP hasn’t had the will to implement the Women’s Reservation Bill since 2014, despite Congress leaders having extended unconditional support.
"For the last many decades, our commitment has been for women empowerment. The Women's Reservation Bill is our brainchild and we have tried to introduce it a number of times. In 1989, it was opposed by BJP stalwarts and they voted against it," she said.
BJP leaders L. K Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Yashwant Sinha and Ram Jethmalani had voted against it, Narasimhamurthy added.
With agency inputs
Also Read:Women's Reservation Bill passed by LS with 454 votes to 2