Women's Reservation Bill passed in Lok Sabha granting 33% quota after 8-hour debate

In a historic decision, the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, September 20 passed the Women's Reservation Bill granting a 33% quota for women. The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, was passed after a reply by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal. 

The decision was taken after the members of the Parliament manually voted in favour of the bill via slip. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also arrived in the house to participate in the voting.

A total of 454 MPs voted in favour of the bill by choosing Ayes, while 2 MPs -- AIMIM leaders Asaduddin Owaisi and Imtiaz Jaleel voted against the bill choosing No. The amendments moved by opposition members were negatived and there was also voting on clauses of the bill.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced that the Women Reservation Bill had been passed.

How did voting take place?

The voting took place under rule 367 A by the distribution of slips. All the members seated in the Lok Sabha were provided slips stating-- 'Ayes'- in favour of the bill and 'No'- against the bill.

Ayes were printed in green colour while No in red colour. The members had to write their names and put their signatures on the slips by mentioning their identity card numbers, and the constituency of their state/UTs. The members who desired to record abstention filled their details on a yellow colour slip. Immediately after recording the vote, the members passed their votes to the division officials. the members were not allowed to leave their seats till the votes were collected.

Women's Reservation Bill 

On September 18, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led cabinet approved a 33% reservation bill for women in the Parliament. As per the bill, one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will be reserved for women candidates. 

All about the approved Women's Reservation Bill

• The women's reservation bill will reserve 33 percent of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women.
• The bill specifies that one-third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be reserved for women from those groups. 
• These reserved seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in the state or union territory.
• The bill says that the reservation of seats for women shall cease to exist 15 years after the commencement of the amendment act.

The decision was taken in the 90-minute-long union cabinet meeting, which was chaired by the Prime Minister with top ministers. Notably, the women’s reservation bill took centre stage on September 18, the first day of the five-day Parliament special session. Several political parties had pitched for the passage of the women's reservation bill during the session. The women's reservation bill has been pending for nearly 27 years.