Wayanad bypoll: Low voter turnout dampens Congress spirits
Political observers say that the massive turnout of crowd during the campaigns of Priyanka in the constituency is not reflected in the polling.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday asked the Narendra Modi-led NDA government to provide quota to Other Backward Class (OBC) in the Women’s Reservation Bill that seeks to reserve 33 per cent of total seats for women in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, the former Congress president also expressed his regret for not being able to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill during the UPA government.
“100% regret hai. This should have been done then. We will get this done..,” the Wayanad MP said when asked if he regrets that the OBC quota was not provided under the Bill brought by UPA in 2010.
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In 2010, the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha but lapsed eventually after not being presented in the lower house. The Samajwadi Party (SP), and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had refused to support the Bill in the absence of OBC quota.
The Women’s Reservation Bill named the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023 has been cleared by the Parliament and is all set to become a law after President Droupadi Murmu’s signature.
However, the Bill may not change the situation as yet for it will be implemented only after the delimitation exercise. The delimitation exercise will be conducted after the Census.
The Congress leader, however, claimed that the Bill can be implemented with immediate effect but the Modi government is not willing to do that.
“Women’s Reservation Bill is great but we received two footnotes that Census and Delimitation need to be done before that. Both of these will take years. The truth is that the Reservation can be implemented today.
“This is not a complicated matter but the Govt doesn’t want to do that. Govt has presented this before the country but it will be implemented 10 years from now. Nobody knows if this will even be implemented. This is a distraction tactic, diversion tactic,” he said.
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