ABP-CVoter Snap Poll: Parliament Passes Women's Reservation Bill. But What Do Voters Think?

Although the bill promises to "empower women" and better represent women in such matters, some sceptics do not believe so. Here's what voters think about the Women's Reservation Bill, 2023.

As politics over the Women's Reservation Bill heats up, ABP News along with its partner CVoter conducted a snap poll to gauge the nation's mood over the legislation. Last week, The Women's Reservation Bill, 2023, was passed by both Houses of Parliament, approving the 33% quota for women in Lok Sabha and state legislatures. The Bill now awaits the President's signature to become law.

With the Opposition and the NDA locked in a battle over the implementation of the women's reservation policy once it becomes a law, as many as one-third of voters want the law to be implemented.

When asked: "Do you support the Women's Reservation Bill," as many as 75% of the 5,403 respondents participating in the survey ABP-CVoter Survey replied in the affirmative. Of these respondents, as many as 71.6% backed the Opposition, while 80.2% supported the BJP-led NDA. Only about 14% opposed the Bill due to various reasons.

Although the bill promises to "empower women" and better represent women in such matters, some sceptics do not believe so. When asked, "Do you think that a higher representation of women in legislatures would lead to making better policies regarding women's issues," as many as 63.7% of people replied in the affirmative. In comparison, 24.2% did not feel so.

However, at the same time, close to 30% of the respondents felt that deserving male candidates would be affected by the implementation of the Bill. A large chunk of the survey respondents seemed to be undecided on the matter. Responding to the question, " Do you think that implementing this reservation will reduce the chances of deserving male candidates," 29.2% of the respondents said "Yes", while 45.6% replied "No". Curiously, 25% of the respondents seemed to be undecided on this matter as they replied "Don't Know/ Can't Say". The Bill proposes to be in 

While there are still a few years left for the Bill to be implemented, taking into consideration the next census and delimitation exercises, the political spectrum is united in acknowledging that the Bill is a step towards women's empowerment. However, they feel that the Bill could do with a few tweaks, especially in the areas of backward classes quota and the deadline for its implementation.

[Disclaimer: This survey was based on CVoter personal interviews conducted among 5,403 adults across India. Sometimes the table figures do not sum to 100 due to the effects of rounding off. The survey was conducted from Saturday to Sunday afternoon. The Margin of error is +/- 3% at the macro level and +/- 5% at the micro level. We believe this will give the closest possible resemblance to the trends.]