India introduces legislation for 33 pct quota on female representation in parliament

NEW DELHI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government on Tuesday introduced the legislation ensuring 33 percent reservation for women in the parliament's lower house Lok Sabha and all states' legislatures, local media reported.

The bill is scheduled to be discussed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Once it is passed by lawmakers of the lower house, it would be sent to the upper house Rajya Sabha and the country's president for the official seal. It also needs to be passed by the majority of the legislatures of the states.

It would mandate women's reservation for a period of 15 years after it becomes a law, with the parliament having the power to extend it further, and there would be 181 women lawmakers in Lok Sabha, out of the total 543 parliamentarians.

At present, there are only 82 women lawmakers in Lok Sabha.

The new law would be enacted after making the required amendments to the country's constitution.

The demand for the 33 percent women reservation in legislatures in India could be traced back to 1996, but it faced the lack of a majority with previous governments.