Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get the Women's Reservation Bill passed in Lok Sabha as Bharatiya Janata Party enjoys a majority in the Lower House of Parliament.
The highly-debated Women's Reservation Bill mandates 33 percent of seats to women in Lok Sabha and other legislative bodies.
Sonia Gandhi, in her letter, requested Narendra Modi to make use of the party's majority and get the 21-year-old bill passed.
"I am writing to request you to take advantage of your majority in the Lok Sabha to now get the women's reservation bill passed in the Lower House as well," Sonia wrote in the letter, dated September 20, reported The Times of India.
Assuring complete support from the Congress party, the 70-year-old leader said the bill would be a significant step towards women empowerment.
The Women's Reservation Bill, introduced by the Deve Gowda government on September 12, 1996, seeks one-third of seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies be reserved for women, TOI stated.
In 2010, Rajya Sabha passed the bill. It lapsed after the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014 following BJP's win.
Currently, Lok Sabha has 62 women MPs out of the 543-- a mere 11 percent.
If BJP passes the bill, it would be the second high impact legislation after GST, another unfinished agenda of the UPA government, News18 noted.
